


Since Feeling is First

by Miasunrise



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Casual Disaster Link, Escort Mission, Eventual Sex, Link is gender fluid but has a lot of boy days, M/M, Massages, Mild Sexual Content, Mutual Pining, Other, Pining, Romance, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Slow Burn, a lot of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:01:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 89,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23581270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miasunrise/pseuds/Miasunrise
Summary: Link blinks down at the letter in his hands, sitting upright on his bed in Hateno Village.Zelda hadn’t even asked for a reply.She knew he’d say yes.---(Two weeks after Ganon's defeat, Link escorts Prince Sidon to Gerudo Town.)
Relationships: Link/Prince Sidon
Comments: 203
Kudos: 962





	1. Hateno Village - Zora's Domain

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING** : The vast majority of this story isn't explicit, but there's about a 20k sex scene at the end. If you don't want to read it, it'll be easy to skip. 
> 
> **Other warnings** : mild violence, electrocution, some gender dysphoria, Link is a bit feral, and I don't know a lot about loz or botw lore so I probably made some mistakes (feel free to tell me) (i haven't beaten the game so there's stuff idk)
> 
> Title is from an ee cummings poem.
> 
> You are morally obligated to picture them like this if you read this fic: [[x](https://wuffen.tumblr.com/post/184044590485)] (not related to the fic at all I just love Wuffen's art).
> 
> I made Link older, 23 I think, and taller (5ft) but don't WORRY there’s still a size difference here oh boy
> 
> My gf was nice enough to edit for me: [Alpaca](https://actually-an-alpaca.tumblr.com/)❤
> 
> This is a slow burn, but the fun kind where they’re together 95% of the time and you, hopefully, stare at the screen and scream, “KISS YOU FUC-”
> 
> Hope you wanna pull your hair out!

* * *

_My dearest Link,_

How are you? I imagine you are near mad with boredom. You never could be idle, even when times were peaceful. 

Reconstruction at the palace is going well. It is a slow process. Ganon destroyed a great deal, so we must gather stone and iron and all other materials on our own. I use my magic to help as often as I am able.

I considered asking for your aid in this, but I meant what I said. You are free, Link. Free to do whatever, and be whoever, you want.

In light of this, I had hoped you would find something to do, but I fear that this is not the case. And so I am writing you this letter.

The Zora have sent a formal request for a Hylian escort across Hyrule. Prince Sidon needs to reach Gerudo Town to speak in person with Chief Makeela Riju. I am told that Zora do not often leave their Domain and are ill-equipped to survive the wilds of Hyrule alone. A Prince even less so, perhaps. 

This request comes not as a necessity, but as only a request. I have other knights who could complete this task. However, you smile so brightly when you speak of the Prince that I can only assume you’d like to see him again.

Be careful, Link. Although Ganon is defeated, monsters still roam Hyrule in the echo of his life. 

_With all the love in the world,_ _  
__  
Z._ _  
_

* * *

  
  


Link blinks down at the letter in his hands, sitting upright on his bed in Hateno Village. 

Zelda hadn’t even asked for a reply. 

She knew he’d say yes.

Unable to sleep, Link hops out of bed and begins preparing for the journey. He packs some easy-to-carry food, some lightning elixirs he has in storage, and the slate. He changes into the warmest thing he owns, dyed brightly to suit him, and packs the gear needed for the Zora Domain, as well as clothes for traversing Hyrule towards Gerudo Town. 

Last, he studies the weapons mounted on his wall, head tilted. It doesn’t matter too much what he takes… he’ll find better ones along the way… probably won't need the master sword…

Link picks up three weapons, one shield, and his favourite bow. He hikes everything onto his back with a heavy grunt. It’s a lot, but he’s used to carrying a lot.

Taking a deep breath, he pushes his front door open wide. The night air is cool and he breathes in deeply again.

Zelda was right, like she always is: he’s been losing his mind, a bit. He’s happy Ganon’s dead and the world is at peace. He’d never _really_ want another unspeakable evil to take over. It’s not… that.

He likes to travel but it seems weird to just pick up and go with no reason. Risk his life just for… what? Fun? 

So he’d stayed in Hateno Village. He tried growing a vegetable garden, he tried sewing, he tried teaching the children in the village how to fight, climb sheer cliffs, and use a glider. He was bad at growing plants, worse at sewing, and apparently teaching children to climb fifty-foot tall cliffs is “dangerous.” 

Link doesn’t see why. He’d let them take his glider up with them.

Oh! The glider! He left it inside.

Link runs back into his house, grabs it off his rarely-used kitchen table, and then runs back out. 

He doesn’t stop running. The Zora Domain is north from here. Link runs straight off the cliff, into the nighttime air, and slips easily into a glide. 

And even though his house is behind him, fading slowly away, he feels like he’s coming home.

* * *

The journey north is always a rough one. He’s fine for the most part, but one lizalfo cuts him clean across the back with a razor sharp spear, and his snowquill clothes from Rito Village are stained with blood. The slice is long and deep, but he sits down at the fire once he’s cleared the lizalfos out and cooks himself some fish and mushrooms. After a bit of rest, he’s fine. 

Once he leaves again he notices he’s being followed, though, and quickly realizes he’s leaving a trail of blood. 

_Shit._

Link digs through his items and finds an old strip of cloth. He takes his coat off, ignoring the way it sticks along the cut. Shivering immediately, he wraps the cloth around his torso a few times, ties it tight, and hauls the warm clothes back on over his head.

With the bleeding stopped, he turns and finds the lizalfo following him. He throws bombs at it until it falls off the cliff.

Despite the bleeding, freezing air, and general danger, his heart pounds with excitement. Link can’t help but grin as the beast tumbles down the side of the snowy cliff to its death.

He slips his sword onto his back, a simple guardian sword, and continues his way north.

* * *

Once he reaches the bridge he’d first met Sidon on, Link realizes something.

Does Sidon even know he’s coming?

Zelda hadn’t said anything about telling him, and Link hadn’t sent a message ahead of himself to the palace. 

He moves faster than any messenger would anyway.

Wiping freezing sweat from his brow, Link grins.

* * *

By the time he reaches the front entrance of the Zora Palace, he’s out of food and out of arrows. This is standard for the trek from Hateno Village to the Zora’s Domain. He could get through with only the sheikah slate bombs, but arrows are a quicker and more reliable way to kill the lizalfos.

He walks down the long bridge, happy for the relatively warmer temperature, and finds his heart beating fast although there are no monsters in sight.

* * *

“Have you received word back from the Hylian Palace?” Sidon’s father, King Dorephan, asks from his throne.

“Not yet. But I trust Princess Zelda will get back to us in time,” Sidon says with a nod. “She must have many complicated issues to sift through, and we are not her priority. But she is a dependable Hylian! She will not leave us in the dark.”

King Dorephan nods with a great sigh, his massive body deflating with the lack of air. “It is unfortunate we must often depend on outside help.”

“Not at all!” Sidon exclaims, holding his arms out wide and looking brightly up at his father. “Hylians are wonderful, don’t you think? So resourceful.”

King Dorephan doesn’t respond to this. He wonders how far Prince Sidon’s affections go towards a particular Hylian. He wonders if his son even knows the reason for the grin plastered across his face. Perhaps it means nothing. Certainly Sidon is cheerful by nature, and Link is amiable enough that anyone would like him.

It’s fine, either way. The only question will be that of lineage, and that one answered easily enough through surrogacy.

More than likely, Prince Sidon hasn’t worried about any of this. Link has not been to the Palace since prior to Ganon’s defeat.

“How do you think he’s doing?” His son asks, looking out at the distant mountains they can see from the throne room. “Link, I mean. He must be happy to get to relax, and be with his own people,” he finishes with a hearty sigh. “A much deserved end to a long quest.”

King Dorephan knew Link from 100 years ago. He is not the same man that stood before him months ago to stop Vah Ruta, not exactly. The century he’d spent sleeping, the lack of memories, and the new memories he’d made -- these things have changed him. The Link he knows now is a new person, in some ways. At the very least he is considerably more reckless.

However, one thing remains the same. That Hylian _cannot_ sit still. King Dorephan doubts entirely that he is resting, that he is home nestled safe and warm in a bed. Whatever the Hylian Hero is doing, it is not stationary. 

“Pardon the intrusion, your majesties,” Muzu says, bowing from the top of the stairs. “But the Hylian hero Link has just arrived at the palace. He says--”

“Link?” Sidon lights up like a firework and his yellow eyes widen. “He’s here? Right now?”

“Yes, at the front. He says--”

Without a word or any proper act of formality, King Dorephan watches as his son runs down the stairs.

* * *

Sidon hasn’t seen Link since he’d helped him get into Vah Ruta. That battle had taken some time to complete. Link would come visit in between attempts, gathering materials from the Domain and staying at the palace for rest. They hadn’t a lot of time to talk but Sidon had enjoyed their small bouts of conversation immensely, drastically one-sided or not. He never minded how little Link spoke. The Hylian says a lot with his eyes.

Running towards the entrance, Sidon grins when he sees a spot of golden hair amidst the deep blues of the palace. He did not think he’d see Link again anytime soon, could not think of a reason for it, and the fact had depressed him considerably.

“Link!” Sidon calls, nearly at the front entrance. The guards step back to clear the way. “My friend, it has been–” He stops once he gets a good look at the Hylian.

Link’s hair is frozen at its ends, windswept, and falling out of the small ponytail he always keeps it tied in. His clothes, warm garments from Rito, are torn and soaked with frozen blood. There are deep bags under his eyes. The glowing sword on his back has blood maring its tip, and upon closer inspection, Sidon can see fresh wounds along his arms. 

All of this doesn’t appear to bother Link any. He looks as calm and capable as ever.

“You’re hurt!”

Link looks at him curiously. 

“Come inside, hurry, we need to get you cleaned up,” Sidon says, reaching out for one of Link’s hands. He tugs at it gently to pull the Hylian into his home. “Rivan, can you find us some– oh, what do Hylians need? Some water to clean him, and some of the herbs… you eat fish, do you not? Some fish, please, Rivan. And a spare change of clothes.”

\---

Link lets himself be pulled through the front entrance of the Zora Palace, a small smile on his lips. 

He hadn’t meant to get so beat up. It’s been two weeks since he’d seen any fighting, so maybe he’d been a little too reckless. He wanted to see what he was still capable of. He wanted to feel… useful.

It hadn’t dawned on him that Sidon would worry. It probably should have.

Link is sat down on the edge of a warm pool of water. A few attendants set a plate of cooked fish next to him, as well as a change of clothes – somehow fit for a Hylian – and an elixir, likely made of herbs and unknown monster parts.

Sidon sits down beside him. His legs slip into the water, and Link follows suit. Water doesn’t rejuvenate Hylians to the extent it does Zora, but he knows this will make Sidon feel better so he does it.

“You didn’t need to do all this,” Link says, looking at the plate of fish wryly. “I’m fine.”

“The Hero of Hyrule should never need to suffer!” Sidon grins at him, but unlike usual, this one is a bit forced. He drops it and then only looks sad. “My apologies, dear friend. I do not like seeing you this way.” Sidon sighs, his tall frame expanding with the action. Link looks at the water. “If you had sent word you were coming, I would’ve sent scouts out to deal with the monsters.”

“Wanted to surprise you.”

Sidon laughs. “I am certainly surprised!” he says. “Now, take those clothes off, clean up, eat. I will go arrange for a place for you for the night, and then I will return.”

Link watches as Sidon lifts his legs from the warm water, and then lifts himself up altogether. He always stands out in the palace. All of that smooth red skin against dark blue walls and floors. 

Before Sidon leaves, he looks down at him and says, “Even like this, dear friend, it is good to see you.”

Link waves at him, and is given a toothy grin for his efforts. 

* * *

Once Link has washed, eaten the fish and drank the elixir, he stands up and starts exploring the palace. Sidon hadn’t returned yet. He probably wants to give Link time to rest, but he doesn’t _need_ rest. He’s had two weeks of it and that’s enough for a lifetime.

The long cut on his back is still open, and he doesn’t want to bleed all over the clothes the Zora had given him, so he stays in his shorts. Unlike Hylians, Zora don’t blink an eye at nudity. They wear clothes for status and decoration, not for modesty. He doesn’t need to worry about anyone thinking he’s weird.

He walks around, looking for Sidon, and many Zora come up to speak with him. Most thank him, and some still berate him. Link takes it with a placid expression. The fact that he doesn’t remember what happened doesn’t make him any less guilty. All four Champions died a hundred years ago; he’d let them down. Killing Ganon now was an atonement of sorts, but… in the end, they’re all still dead, Mipha included.

So he lets the few Zora scorn him. It’s the least he can offer.

Carrying the clothes he’d been given, Link heads up the main staircase. He’s had no luck finding Sidon anywhere else, so he heads to the throne room. He wants to tell him why he’s here, so they can get a move on. 

“Ah, good evening, Link.” King Dorephan greets when he enters the throne room. “If you are looking for my son, he is procuring you a room fit for a Hylian. They are scarce to come by in the palace.”

Link nods at the King, and then looks back and forth, wondering which way to go.

“He is in the upper west wing. Just up these stairs,” King Dorephan Says. His expression is stern. Somehow, Link feels like the King is staring straight through him. “Mind yourself, Hylian. You may have saved the world but Prince Sidon is my son, and I will take no foolery from you.”

Link tilts his head. 

“If you do not know what I mean, then you are both helpless.” He sighs and waves a hand dismissively. “Go, hero. And do not let a single fin on his head come to harm. When you return from your excursion to Gerudo Town, I expect him in one piece.”

Link nods, matching the king’s gaze. 

Then he takes off up the staircase behind the throne.

\---

The upper west wing turns out to be only one room, which the tall spiralling staircase leads to. Link stops in front of two tall metal doors, raising his hand to knock.

“Pardon me,” a soft voice says from behind him, “Coming through.”

A blue Zora with her arms full of leaves and cloth slips past Link and through the metal doors. She moves too fast for him to have time to ask her anything.

Shrugging, Link raises his hand again to knock.

“Oh, excuse me! Sorry!” Another Zora, this one dark red, comes out of the metal doorway and nearly runs into Link. He steps around the Hylian and hurries down the stairs. Again, too quick for Link to ask anything.

For the third time, he raises his hand to knock.

The doors creak open and Sidon appears. Link’s balled fist is frozen at the Zora’s abdomen. He quickly pulls his hand away.

Sidon looks down in blank confusion until his mind catches up to what he’s seeing.

“Link!” He grins wide. “I see you could not sit still. But you look rejuvenated to be sure.” 

Grinning back, Link pulls both arms up into a flex. 

This brings a sudden bright laugh out of Sidon. The sound is deep and full of heart. Like always, the Zora’s positivity is contagious, and Link feels his own grin grow wider.

“You are as charming as ever,” Sidon says, sighing through post-laughter. “Now come inside. I had a bed made for you. The only private rooms in the palace are the King’s and my own, so I hope you do not mind?”

Smile lingering, Link shakes his head.

“Very good. Follow me, then, my friend.”

\---

Prince Sidon’s private room is what Link would’ve expected: a nice view, a warm pool of water, and a dresser for what little clothes he wears. It’s a brighter blue than the rest of the castle. There are fishing spears along one wall, books, a few half-made accessories, bottles of some kind of salve, and a table filled with gemstones. He’d read once that some Zora are inexplicably attracted to bright coloured objects and that these sorts of collections are common.

Off against the far wall, there is a make-shift bed. It’s a pile of leaves under three sheets of cloth.

“You must accept my humblest of apologies,” Sidon says when he sees that Link is looking at the bed. “It is all we could find.”

Link shakes his head. “No, that’s…” If he looked disappointed, it’s because he doesn’t want to sleep at all. But he can’t expect Sidon, a prince who rarely strays from the castle, to keep up with his pace. “I sleep on the ground a lot. You didn’t need to do anything.”

“That is _precisely_ why I needed to do something.” Sidon sets a hand on Link’s shoulder. Two yellow eyes stare at him a bit longer than normal. The Zora clears his throat and then that weighted warmth is gone. “Anyway, now that you have rested as much as you’re able, may I ask you why you’re here?”

Link folds his arms and raises his brow. “I came to pick you up.”

“Pick me up…?” 

“Zelda told me you were looking for an escort to Gerudo Town.”

“Oh.” Sidon looks perplexed, and then alarmed. “My friend, you don’t need to bother yourself with such an errand. I can’t ask the Hero of Hyrule for a personal escort.”

“Who’s asking?” Link sticks his hip out, arms still folded. “I’m offering.”

“I’m hardly a worthy endeavour of your time.”

“You helped me reclaim Vah Ruta.”

“Any Zora could have done so.”

“But not _any_ Zora did.”

Sidon seems to brush this fact aside and says, “I am sure Princess Zelda has other knights at her disposal. Hyrule’s Hero ought to be on reserve for some great threat, not to escort a naive prince through the wilderness. You are as kind as always, Link, but I can’t accept. It would be rude of me to monopolize your time for such a menial task.”

Frowning, Link reaches out and takes the Zora’s larger hand. Sidon makes a noise when he does; it’s a small and surprised sound that comes from his throat. Ignoring this, Link looks at the palm of his hand. It’s white and smooth. He looks at the sharp claws. They’re pretty in their own way, like frozen ice glittering in the sunlight.

“If Hyrule doesn’t need me, then…” Link trails off, not sure how exactly to finish that sentiment. It’s a complicated one he hasn’t worked out yet.

Steeling himself, he looks up into yellow eyes. 

“Sidon, I can’t spend another day waiting at home.” Link rubs a thumb along the white palm in his hand, and tries his best not to waver. “Let me escort you across Hyrule. I don’t want you to get hurt, and no one knows the wilds like I do.”

“Link…”

“If I don’t get back out there, I’m going to lose it.” Link smirks slightly, and lets go of Sidon’s hand. “So how about it? We’ll cross Hyrule together. It’ll be fun.”

Sidon looks unconvinced, but says, “If you are sure your people would not mind the Zora taking up all of your time…”

Link shakes his head.

And finally, a small smile returns to Sidon’s mouth. “You always remain the man I know you to be. Adventurous. Kind.” The smile grows. “And yet you surprise me again and again! Very well, Hero. If you will have me, I will be your charge.”

Smirking, Link dips down low into an over-dramatic bow.

This earns him another hearty laugh, one he feels all the way to the soles of his feet.


	2. Zora’s Domain - Lake Hylia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I watched Pointcrow's vids (that's what got me into botw and this ship) and that’s why Sidon is shit at climbing mountains. 
> 
> I also made it so Link has to go to a shrine to teleport. It just seemed to make more sense for this medium (prose as opposed to a video game I mean). And I made some elixirs like salves... Doesn't make sense to eat food and have wounds healed. yk? ya feel me?
> 
> Thank you for the comments and kudos! I worked hard on this, so it's nice to know some people like it.

* * *

  
Link sleeps soundly on the makeshift bed in Sidon’s room. It’s much warmer than the ground outside and he doesn’t have to worry about any bugs. More than that, he can hear Sidon breathing gently underwater. It’s a lulling sort of noise. The gentle push and pull of water through gills. 

It’s the most relaxed he’s felt in weeks.

They wake early the next morning. The first thing Sidon does is fuss about the giant gash – now mostly closed – across Link’s back.

“I did not notice it last night,” Sidon says. He’s holding Link by the shoulder, having turned him forcefully around so he could get a good look. “Is this why you didn’t wear the clothes I left you?”

Link nods.

Sidon is silent, presumably staring at Link’s back. There are a lot of scars. He’s never been particularly ashamed of them, or his body in general, but right now… 

“It’s okay,” Link says, stepping away and turning around. He shivers. Sidon’s hand had grazed across his shoulder. He walks over to the bed he’d slept on last night and picks up his winter clothes. “It happens,” he says while pulling the shirt over his head.

“Of course,” Sidon says, dropping his hand down to his side. “I suppose it must.”

“You ready to go?”

“Let me say goodbye to my father. Then we can be off.”

They head out an hour later. 

* * *

Link leads them west from the Zora’s Domain towards the Lanayru Wetlands, though this isn’t where he’s taking them. There’s a shrine not far from the palace that he’d never explored. And, if he’s going to get Sidon all the way to Gerudo Town and back alive, there are some things they’re going to need.

“What a beautiful day!” Sidon exclaims as they near the middle of the Great Zora Bridge. Link, looking down at his sheikah slate, neglects to offer any kind of reply, though he hears the Zora loud and clear. If Sidon is nothing else, he’s loud and clear. “It has been ages since I’ve left the Domain. Not since I first saw you, I believe.”

Still studying the map, Link doesn’t answer. The shrine is west, near the Veiled Falls, along the side of a nameless mountain. Normally he’d make a few elixirs and make the climb out of the palace towards the falls, and then ride the water up to the top of the mountain. But… Those cliffs are difficult for _him_. He’d better choose an easier route.

“I can still remember all that rain,” Sidon says as they reach the end of the Great Zora Bridge. “How good it is to feel the sun regularly once again!” He stretches, preening into the daylight, and then relaxes with an exhale. “Have I ever properly thanked you?”

“Huh?” Link looks back down at the slate. “Oh. Yeah.” 

“Well I cannot thank you enough.”

“You helped.”

Sidon doesn’t respond, and Link brings his focus back to the map.

The next fastest route would be across Ruto Lake, and then north by Ralis Pond. But Link doesn’t think he could ask to ride on Sidon’s back. He just… can’t. It was different when Sidon offered, when it was to save the Domain and all of Hyrule and to reclaim Vah Ruta. That was necessary. Link has a hard time believing Hylians riding on the backs of Zora is a normal activity. 

So… not that. He needs a different plan.

They could climb the significantly smaller cliffs west of here and cut out about an hour of walking on the trail, hop down onto Luto’s Crossing, then veer north towards the Veiled Falls. That still leaves one sheer cliff to climb at the end, but if he had to, Link could leave Sidon at the bottom and go for the shrine on his own.

With a nod, Link slips the slate back onto his hip.

“Now, where should we head to first? I know a– oh.” 

Link is already standing at the base of the small rock cliff, hands on his hips, looking up at the climb ahead of him. Sidon comes to a stop just behind him and looks up as well, though he’s not smiling. When Link cranes his neck back to look, the Zora’s expression is full of worry.

“Are we climbing?”

Link nods.

“I do not think… My friend, I am not suited for such feats.”

“It’s not high,” Link says, turning to face him fully.

Sidon’s sharp teeth show as he looks up at the rocks. “We may have different definitions of ‘high.’”

“It’ll save hours if we go this way.” Link wants to get them to the shrine before dark. “And we can avoid the lizalfos.” If Sidon gets hit by a shock arrow, he’s done for. Link will haul him over this cliffside before he’ll risk that. 

Sidon still looks worried. It’s weird to see on him. Link has, for the most part, only ever seen him looking confident. There were a few times during the Vah Ruta fight where Sidon lost his morale: when Link crashed hard into the water, and when he missed a shot. 

There was once where he caught him talking to his sister’s statue, too.

But this is just some rocks. Sidon can do it, definitely.

Link makes the first hop up onto the side of the small cliffs, and climbs his way up to the flat surface of the first rock. There are lots of flat surfaces around the cliff face; it’s not a sheer climb. He kneels down and reaches a hand out towards Sidon.

Yellow eyes look from the hand to Link’s face. “I do not…”

Link flexes his fingers, reaching down further. 

“Oh… How am I…” the Zora trails off, looking a bit hapless.

Closing his eyes, Sidon takes Link’s offered hand. The size difference makes it a bit awkward to hold on, but Link holds on anyway. 

He nods down at Sidon and starts pulling.

The Zora’s feet, built for swimming, slip a few times on the rock. At one point he slips on a loose piece of stone and loses his footing completely. Link tightens his arms and holds on with a deathgrip, stopping the Zora from falling down the side.

It wouldn’t be a big fall, not for him. It’s only about twenty feet. But Link can tell this is way outside of his comfort zone.

“Link,” Sidon says, rising panic in his voice, “I do not think this–”

“You can do it.” Link smiles the best he can through the strain on his body. He readjusts his feet, stamping them firmly into grooves at the top of the rocky mound. “I,” he pauses, fixing his grip on larger hands, “I believe in you.”

The words feel awkward in his mouth. Link’s never liked talking but… Sometimes, when he doubts himself, he hears Sidon’s voice in his head. More than once when he was dealing with Ganon he heard it; a bright and unquestioning ‘You can do this, Link!’ echoing inside his mind. 

If he could do that for Sidon, even in this small way, Link would try.

Sidon starts climbing again, this time with more force. His feet slip but he doesn’t stop moving, readjusts them quick and keeps going. Link pulls. He starts to lean back on his haunches, yanking on red hands as hard as he can.

Finally Sidon reaches the top. As he does, Link falls all the way back onto his rear.

The Zora blinks down at him, looking stunned.

“Told you,” Link says, offering a small wave from the ground. “No-” he pants with effort. Sidon is… big. But not too heavy. Not any worse than swimming in full armor. “No problem.”

Sidon reaches a hand down. Link takes it, and lets himself be pulled to his feet. 

“You are _extraordinary_ , Link.”

The blond shakes his head. 

“A Hylian convincing a Zora to climb a rock cliff is one for the history books. My father will never believe this.”

Link pales. “Don’t tell the king.”

“Why not? I feel invigorated! I have _climbed_! Zora do not climb, not like this. We walk slow slopes for fantastic dives, but _never_ a cliffside.”

Link sighs as he regains his breath. It was barely a “cliff” at all… more like a mound of large boulders. Hopefully Sidon will forget to mention this to King Dorephan – this was the safer route, sure, but he doubts that’d make a difference to Sidon’s father. 

“We have to keep going,” Link says, rubbing at the back of his neck. As he pulls his hand away, it’s wet with sweat. He wipes this on his clothes and then starts the climb up the next section of rock.

It takes them about two hours to cross the rocky shortcut. Sidon grows more confident as he goes, but he doesn’t get any better at climbing. Link doesn’t hold it against him; he could practice swimming for years and he’d never be as good at it as a Zora. Mipha’s armor is the only reason he can make it up those waterfalls. Sidon doesn’t have any fancy armour helping him adapt.

When they reach the other side of the shortcut, Link has to help Sidon _down_ the rocks. This proves to be a bit easier. But only in the sense that sliding comes more naturally to Zora than climbing.

Once they’re at the bottom, they’re both spent. 

Link plops right down onto the grass, and Sidon leans heavily back against the rocks they’d just slid down.

“I am sorry to be such a burden,” Sidon says between breaths. “I promise I can hold my own. _Climbing_ is simply…” 

From his spot on the grass, Link shakes his head. He doesn’t need to hear it. “We need to keep going. Okay?” He says, standing up. He doesn’t want them to be out here at night.

After a few more panting breaths, Sidon flashes him his usual grin. “Lead the way.”

Luto's Crossing is straight ahead. Link leads them down it, the afternoon sun warm on his cheeks. Sidon keeps looking at the water and smiling, which makes Link feel more at ease. He stops to take in the beauty of Hyrule sometimes, too.

Once they’re on the other side of the bridge, they’re face to face with the nameless mountain. The shrine should be nested into the eastern side of it. All they need to do is get around this cliff. Just like the near-wall of rock that surrounds the palace, Link can’t expect Sidon to climb a mountain made of sheer cliffs.

Link stares up at the towering cliff, and then down at his slate. There doesn’t seem to be any other way up. No path or tunnels. 

“Stay here,” he says, slipping the slate onto his hip and not turning to look at the other man. “I’ll run around the side and see if I can find us a way up.”

Before Link can run off to do just that, a large hand grabs the bow at his back. It wasn’t rough at all. Only a gentle request to wait.

“Where are we trying to go, exactly?” Sidon asks.

Link moves in closer to let him see, and points to the glowing marker on the slate. 

“The shrine?”

Links nods. 

“Ah! I know a way,” Sidon says. With one sharp claw he traces a trail along the slate’s map as he speaks. “There is a path here. We use it to reach the top and dive down into the lake. It is a bit long, but I fear I cannot climb these cliffs. Even with your expert help.”

And then Link feels…

Stupid.

Of _course_ Sidon knows about a secret path leading to the top of this nameless mountain. He _lives_ here. He’d lived here for a _hundred years._

Feeling abashed, Link rubs at the back of his neck and says, “You lead.”

“Very well! Follow me, warrior,” Sidon replies with a grin. “I will never lead you astray.”

* * *

The path snakes left and right in long lines, which makes the trek slow, but they reach the shrine in about an hour. Sidon tells him the Zora monitor the path regularly, since children use the Veil Falls to learn how to dive; there aren’t any enemies along the path.

Link climbs up a small mound of rocks and onto the shrine. He turns and offers his hand, and keeps Sidon steady as he climbs up as well. He still moves slowly, but confidently now.

“You’re getting better,” Link says once Sidon is standing at the shrine beside him.

Still holding his hand, Sidon grips it tighter. “I have the best teacher.”

Link opens his mouth, wordless, the heat from their held hands radiating. It’s all he can feel, and all he sees is vibrant yellow under the setting sunlight; there are dusk fireflies buzzing behind Sidon and there’s a gentle breeze but he’s hot.

“Are you alright?” The Zora asks, yellow eyes skirting across Link’s face.

He stutters soundlessly, but manages a nod. 

Seemingly appeased, Sidon releases his hands.

Link pulls the slate out. He opens up the map and moves to stand side-by-side with the Zora. No matter what, he’s not making the same mistake twice. He can communicate. Link can make himself talk. He needs to so they don’t waste anymore time. 

“We’re here for items,” he starts, nodding towards the shrine. “The slate tells me where they are, sometimes.”

“Oh! I see. How _useful_.”

Link traces a finger along the map and continues. “And here’s the route I want us to take… to Gerudo Town. We can avoid a lot of monsters this way, but there’ll still be some. And here, here, and here are good spots to find food. We can rest at these spots, there are lakes too so you can sleep, and…” Link feels a bit dizzy, “And we…”

Sidon puts a hand on his shoulder. “You do not need to speak so much.” 

Link shakes his head. “You need to know.”

“Well, now I know. We’re going into the shrine, are we? I’ve never been inside before. This will be _exciting_!” 

Link shows Sidon where to stand, and then he activates the shrine with the slate. He steps in next to Sidon, has to get close so they’re both on the platform, and then the shrine transports them inside.

He’s never been in a shrine with someone else before. It’s always been himself, alone; and Link doesn’t dislike being on his own, not at all. He’s spent days, weeks, sometimes months wandering Hyrule alone. It gave him a lot of time to think: about himself, who he was a century ago, and how he feels about saving a world he hardly remembers. Time to get to know that world all over again. He’d never classify himself as a ‘thinker,’ he’s probably more suited towards ‘figuring it out as he goes,’ but… Exploring by himself brings a sort of peaceful solitude that he’d grown used to.

Looking up at Sidon, he finds he wants to explain this, but doesn’t have the words. 

“Fascinating,” Sidon says, looking around the tall shrine walls. “I had always wondered what could be inside.”

Link looks around as well. Time to get to it. 

There are four metal chains hanging from the four corners of the room. Platforms rise from the ground under each chain, and deep water separates each platform. There’s an orange circular symbol on the ceiling in the very center of the room.

As usual, _what_ he needs to do isn’t hard to figure out. It’s _how_ that’s going to give him a hard time. First thing’s first, though.

“Sidon.” Link turns to look up at him. 

“Yes?”

Link grabs the Zora’s lower arms and walks him a few steps backwards, as far away from the water as possible. _Stay here._ He does his best to say it with his eyes.

Sidon seems to understand him just fine. “I will not move a muscle,” he says with a grin.

Letting him go, Link pulls an elixir out of his pocket. He gives it to the Zora with a leveled stare. Sidon takes it.

“But what about you? You do have some for yourself, right? You’ll be the one danger.”

Link shakes his head and pushes the elixir further into Sidon’s hands. If Link is electrocuted once or twice (maybe three times), it’ll hurt but he’ll live. 

Zora can’t survive even one hit of electricity. 

“I must insist, Link. If we only have one of these between the two of us, it should be you who takes it.”

There’s water and metal all through this shrine. All it would take is one wrong angle and Link could get Sidon knocked into the water. All it would take is one misdirected shockarrow and he’d kill him. He’s not used to doing this with another person. He’d not used to… 

“I won’t be able to focus unless I know you’re safe,” Link says, the words tripping out, and he forces Sidon’s hand to close around the elixir. 

With that, he turns and heads towards his trial.

\---

Sidon watches as something fiery snaps in the Hylian’s blue eyes. It’s as if bright bolts of lightning explode inside his head. His vision loses its center. Those eyes are burning.

He has seen Link work before. It’s never anything short of amazing. Link dives into the water, climbs chains, falls into the water, and tries shooting a ring of shockarrows at the symbol on the ceiling. He pulls out some sort of magical magnet, which Sidon has never seen him use before but suspects is part of the slate’s abilities. Link tries to use this -- along with some other skill that stops time -- to get the four chains to meet in the middle. He achieves the correct timing after five attempts and ignites the metal in brilliant yellow electric light _–_

Only to have it thrown back in his face. 

Link is lit up in yellow, body contorting dramatically, and he falls into the water with a dull splash.

“Link!” Sidon shouts, and breaks his promise to stay where he is. He runs to the water’s edge, searching.

But a blond head pops up, and Link pulls himself back onto one of the platforms. The tips of his blond hair are seared black. The ends of his clothes, too. His cheeks are bright red, smoke trailing off him. A thin trail of blood drips down the side of his face into his mouth.

He turns and glares _murder_ at Sidon. 

“ _Don’t_ ,” Link says. 

And perhaps Sidon ought to be a bit afraid of that feral look in the Hylian Warrior’s eyes, but he is not afraid. Not at all. 

He grins and says, “Sorry to have doubted you, warrior! Continue on!”

Trial and error seems to be Link’s main tactic. He studies the puzzle on occasion, but appears to do better with kinaesthetic learning. And, well. Sidon has no right to judge. He’s no better at puzzles. He does wish Link wouldn’t put his body through so much strain, however.

Link gets the chains lined up once again, and then Sidon gets an idea. 

“Link!” he shouts.

Two blue eyes, fiery and focused, snap over to him.

Sidon pulls his spear from behind him and tosses it at Link, sending it soaring sleek through the air.

Link catches it without hesitation. Almost haphazardly, his face lights up with understanding. He turns on the balls of his feet, the action delicate and precise.

Link aims his shot and throws the spear. It lines up perfectly between the four static chains and the symbol on the ceiling. Just as it’s hitting its mark, Link pulls out a shockarrow and sends this flying after it.

The entire ceiling of the shrine explodes into yellow snakes of light. Sidon feels afraid for the first time since he'd left the palace but that is only a Zora’s natural reaction to electricity. Rather than focusing on this, he watches Link.

The Hylian is grinning from one ear to the other. Under the burning lights of strobing electricity the grin looks slightly manic. 

Sidon can only stare.

\---

Once the electricity dies down and the temple’s patron unlocks the gate, Link swims his way back over to Sidon. He pulls himself up onto the ledge.

Link slips, surprising himself.

A strong hand catches his arm before he can fall down back into the water. He’s pulled carefully onto the ledge.

“Oh my friend,” Sidon says. He drops down to one knee to bring their faces closer to eye level. “You truly are a sight to behold.”

Link only stares blankly. They need to _go_ , the chest is just on the other side of the room where he can get Sidon warm clothes so they can pass through Lanayru Mountain, and then–

Sidon’s fingers are in his hair. 

“Are you alright? Even the ends of your hair have been turned black.”

Unable to move, Link only nods. 

“Your skin, too. You should eat something. Here, I have brought some fish.” Sidon’s hands leave his hair and he pulls out some dried fish from their items. It looks like a sunfish. “Please,” he says, holding it out towards him.

Once Link remembers how to use his own body, he accepts the fish with a nod. Normally he wouldn’t bother with healing until he was out of the shrine – normally he wouldn’t even think of it until he was out.

Sidon smiles after he eats it, and Link gets caught up staring at those sharp teeth that aren’t normally this close. 

“Very good! You look better already. Thank the gods of the sea for the healing properties of a well cooked fish.” Sidon stands back up. “I fear every Hylian in Hyrule would be after my head should I let anything bad happen to you.”

 _That’s my line_ , Link thinks to himself, mouth full of food. 

Sidon continues with his usual grin, “Please do not mind my fussing. I told you the Zora are forever in your debt, and I meant it.”

Once he swallows his meal, Link nods up at him, ready to go. 

They swim towards the shrine’s exit platform. The chest is next to it, thankfully. Link bends down and opens it. Inside is exactly what they need: a warm fluffy coat large enough for Sidon to wear. It’s blue with a white collar. 

Link hauls it out of the chest and holds it out to the Zora. He has to use both arms to hold it all.

“This is for me?”

Link nods.

“All of _that_ , simply for a coat for me?”

Link grins and nods again.

“You did not need– I could have had something made, I–”

“Take it.”

Sidon doesn’t move, looking a bit lost. How can a prince not be used to being given things? Link wonders. 

“You…”

“Sidon. It’s just a coat.”

The Zora’s mouth drops open. “It is not just a coat!” He speaks with his arms like he always does, and Link finds himself watching. “You showed up at the palace, unannounced, promising to take me across Hyrule; you helped me climb a mountain! This coat is _beautiful_. You are devoting more effort to me than I could possibly be worth.”

Link frowns. “I want to do it.”

“Link!”

The next thing he knows, his feet are leaving the floor. 

Two huge hands lift him up and then pull him in. The Zora’s wide chest is warm, and Link can hear his strong heart pounding as his head is pulled in close to Sidon’s throat. He’s hugged tightly, but with obvious care to the burns on his arms. 

Sidon smells like fresh water, like rainfall and the hint of ozone before it. Link can feel three gills against one of his legs. As Sidon talks the gills move.

“You are such a dear friend. What have I ever done in my life to deserve this?”

Link doesn’t say anything. Sidon’s whole body moves when he speaks, the muscles in his arms and his chest and just–

 _everything_ _–_

Finally, Link is set back down on his feet. 

The coat – which is now half on the floor with the weak grip Link has on one end of it – leaves his hands. Sidon must be taking it from him, but Link can’t clear his head.

“It’s a perfect fit. Wonderful!”

The coat has a shimmering blueness to it, and is lined with some fluffy material. The pattern along the back reminds him of the style in Rito Village. Maybe that’s where it’s from. Link has no idea why Zora clothes are hiding in this shrine; maybe Hylia is still looking out for him; maybe it’s because they’re near the Zora Domain; he never bothers to wonder, normally.

Sidon looks good in blue, in the dark royal blue of this coat, in the lighter parts that shimmer in the glowing lights of the shrine above them. He’s not wearing any pants which should look ridiculous but Sidon has a way of making everything look regal. 

Link clears his throat and looks pointedly at the shrine’s patron. “We should go.”

“Thank you,” Sidon says, obviously not listening.

“Don’t.” Link rubs at the back of his neck, and manages to work up a smirk across his lips. “You’ll need it to cross over Lanayru Mountain.”

Sidon gapes at him. “We are to climb _Lanayru_?”

* * *

Once they’re standing on the platform outside the shrine, Link gets an idea. They’re going to head south towards Hateno Village anyway and Sidon will need some kind of armour to cross Hyrule. He can’t do it all in his prince’s clothes. Sophie could probably make him some simple plating… Link knows that Sidon doesn’t like to wear a lot; he never does; Zora in general don’t seem too fond of clothing.

But he’ll need something. If nothing else, it’ll help Link stay focused.

“Stay here,” he says, pulling the slate out of his pocket. “I’ll be right back.”

“Hm? Link, what–”

The scene fades out in blue light, and in a flash Link arrives at the laboratory in Hateno Village. He glides down to Sohpie’s shop and puts the request in. She gives him a funny look when he tells her he needs Zora armour, but agrees to it nonetheless.

\---

Sidon stares at the empty space where Link used to be. The Hylian had lit up in bright blue and then… disappeared. Completely gone. No trace of him. 

“Link?” He tries weakly. The only response he gets is the night-call of fireflies and the far-off cry of lizalfos. 

Sidon is fine. He can handle himself. The Zora Domain is only east of here, and he knows he can dive down the Veiled Falls and be home in an hour. 

It is not himself he is worried for, however.

But the Hylian is capable, and Sidon knows that – Link puts new implications on the words ‘resilient’ and ‘tough.’ There is no one Sidon trusts more to be able to handle any situation. Whatever reason Link disappeared for, however he did it, wherever he went – it will be fine.

Not too long goes by, not long enough for Sidon to truly worry, and a blue light unfurls like smoke in front of him.

Link materialized from nothing. He fades slowly back into view and falls gently to stand on the shrine’s entrance.

“Okay,” he says, looking up at Sidon. “Time to move.”

“Link!”

The Hylian only tilts his head, his version of _What?_

“You– What– You vanished!”

Link moves his head back upright and one blond eyebrow hikes up near his hairline.

“Where did you go?”

Link makes an expression of sudden understanding, and then pulls out the sheikah slate. The Hylian steps in close to him. He opens the map up and points to Hateno Village. “I can use the slate to travel around Hyrule.”

“What?” Sidon blinks down at the map. “Instantly?”

Link nods. “Just me, though. I can’t… We have to walk to Gerudo Town.”

Sidon switches his wide-eyed look to the man in front of him. “You are full of wonders!”

“It’s the slate, not me.”

“Where did you go?”

“My home village. Hateno.” He slips the slate back onto his hip. “I should’ve told you. I’m not… I’m bad at...” Link waves a hand back and forth between them by way of explanation.

Sidon grips his hands into fists and grins down at him. “That’s alright. Part of the joy of your company is the constant surprises!” 

Link looks up at him, at the pose of his tall body, the sharp teeth and the confident, happy grin.

Sidon is so...

“What?” Sidon asks, releasing the pose. 

Not realizing he’d said anything out loud, Link shakes his head. “Nothing,” he says, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I shouldn’t disappear without telling you.”

“We will have many days to practice communicating,” Sidon says with a gentle smile. “But you don’t need to be sorry. I trust you. Whatever you do, I know it is with good intent.”

Link looks at the blue fabric along red skin, shining softly in the moonlight. His breath catches weirdly. Maybe he used the slate too much today. “Yeah,” is all he says.

They camp beside the shrine. The Veiled Falls make a good spot for a Zora to sleep, and Link passes out on the cold ground like he always does. Sidon doesn’t give him a hard time about it which he appreciates. Link’s never minded sleeping on the ground, or in a cave, or in a tree. He kind of likes it, in the same way he likes crossing the Gerudo Desert or climbing Death Mountain. It’s just another challenge.

Sleeping on a tree is _not_ easy.

They’d lit a fire, which Link watches with tired eyes. Tomorrow they’ll head south towards Hateno Village, pick up Sidon’s armour, and then head southwest towards the Faron Grasslands. Link knows a way to go – off the main roads – that will let them keep their distance from most monsters. If he needs to fight a few, he will. 

Normally he likes a good fight. But with a prince in tow, he’s better off avoiding trouble.

Once they’re in the Faron Grasslands, they can follow the small forest southeast towards the road that leads to the coast… He should tell Sidon that… He showed him on the map, but he should tell him so he’s sure they both know the way.

If they both know the way, it’s safer...

For the second time in as many days, Link falls asleep to the gentle sound of gills filtering water.

* * *

Link wakes up the next morning to the smell of cooking fish and fire. He grabs for his sword immediately, muscles reacting before his head’s fully awake. The only time he smells cooked fish out here, unless he’s the one cooking, is when he finds a Bokoblin camp. 

Sitting on the dewey morning grass, glowing sword held out taut, Link blinks himself fully awake.

There aren’t any bokoblins, no lizalfos, nothing like that. There’s the slow morning sun, breaking the horizon just enough to be blinding. There’s green grass, tall and wisping, the dark kind that’s nearly blue. There’s the clear call of morning birds, and a fire burning a few feet away from him, next to the Veiled Falls. 

Next to the fire, stuck on the ends of sharpened sticks, are fish. Hyrule bass.

He hears splashing, and although he’s already put things together, Link looks over to see a dash of red disappear into the murky pond water. Sidon comes up seconds later (Link’s surprised by how silent he is) with a fish in his mouth, gripped between two sharp rows of teeth. 

When the Zora comes up the bank, he spots Link. Removing the fish from his mouth he says, “Good morning, my friend!”

Link waves a hand at him, a simple lift and drop with an open palm. He relaxes his stance, dropping his sword to his side, and meets Sidon at the fire.

“Please, help yourself,” the Zora says, spearing the newly-caught fish on one of the makeshift spears. Link stares at the scene in front of him, no comment forth-comming. Sidon’s smile drops. “Unfortunately, I only know how to make one dish, and that is cooked fish. If you do not like it, please do not force yourself for my sake. I’m sure we can find you something else along the way.”

Link had started shaking his head before the Zora was finished speaking. He takes one of the sharpened sticks and takes a bite. He’s not used to having food first thing in the morning, not unless he makes it himself which he rarely does; he’s not used to waking up to someone doing something near him; not used to waking up to a smile of razor sharp teeth and a full-forcedly confident ‘Good morning.’

When his day-to-day is altered, it takes Link some time to get caught up. Waking up with no memories and being told he’s destined to save all of Hyrule? Fine, easily adapted to; not like he could remember anything before that anyway. But waking up to a cooked meal after a year of waking up alone and doing everything himself? 

He feels a little… off.

“We still aren’t very far from home,” Sidon says, hands on his hips and staring off into the east. “I can see the palace from here.” 

Link swallows a mouth full of fish. “We’ll cover more ground today.”

“How exciting!” Sidon takes a seat on the grass, grabbing some fish for himself. “I haven’t spent the night outside of the palace in _years_ ,” he says. 

Link stares at him, expecting the Zora to continue. He usually talks a lot, afterall, and that sounded like the beginning of a story. 

But Sidon is silent.

* * *

The trek across Mount Lanayru is difficult on his own. With a Zora in tow, it’s a whole new experience. The cliffs are icey anyway, and some are too steep for Sidon to climb so they have to quit and try a new direction often. The Zora clearly feels bad about his inabilities; Link shakes his head at him every time he apologizes. He wants to _say_ something to make Sidon feel better, but nothing comes out, and so they struggle on in relative silence. 

After six hours of slipping, sliding and retrying, they finally come down the other side. Link hops down the final leg first, then turns around at the bottom to wait for Sidon.

The Zora, despite his size and muscle mass, is clearly exhausted. He’s using muscles in a way he’s not used to. Link knows about that all too well.

“You’re alright,” Link says, widening his stance at the bottom of the icy cliff.

Sidon is shivering, too. Link’s chest feels tight. Maybe they should’ve gone around the mountain. There aren’t lizalfos up here, which had been his reasoning, but… it’s hard to watch Sidon freezing cold and tired.

“Oh my friend, I’m–”

Link shakes his head before the apology can even leave the Zora’s mouth. Looking at yellow eyes, he holds his arms out.

“I doubt you can hold all my weight, strong as you are.”

The blond doesn’t waver his gaze or his hands. 

“I do not want to hurt you.”

Link glares at that. “You won’t,” he says, readjusting his boots, sticking them firmly in the snow at the bottom of the mountain side. Sidon is only about ten feet up the slope. He’s caught boulders higher up than that. A freezing wind whips across Link’s face, shards of ice coming with it, but he keeps his gaze held still. “You won’t,” he says again. _I can carry you, I can._

Whether Sidon can hear him or not, Link doesn’t know. The whipping wind is nearly deafening.

But the Zora releases his hold, eyes closed, and starts sliding down the icy rocks. He comes down feet-first, facing the mountain, and Link catches him by his hips. Sidon is twice his height, but the angle of the slope lets him guide the Zora to the flat ground.

Sidon nearly slips on his own feet – probably weak from the hours of climbing – but Link holds him up. He _is_ heavy, and he’s definitely big, but the blond lifts with his legs and keeps him held still.

“Oh–” Sidon gasps. 

Once he’s steady, Link lets go. 

Sidon’s cheeks are slightly blue, which Link has learned is the colour Zora turn when blood rushes to their face; his own cheeks in turn are red from the cold.

“Alright?” Link asks.

A large shiver runs through Sidon. He nods, not saying anything, and Link nods back. Without wasting time he grabs Sidon’s hand and leads them away from the snow. The sooner they can get away from the icy climate of the mountain the better.

About an hour later, they’re on the outskirts of Hateno Village. The air is still cool but there’s no snow. Sidon’s teeth stop chattering. Link had let go of his hand a while ago, but his own had never stopped feeling warm.

“I should not have doubted you, my friend,” Sidon says, sounding disheartened. It’s the first thing he’s said since they reached the bottom of Mount Lanayru. “But climbing brings out all of my insecurities, I fear.”

Link looks back at Sidon. His teeth poke out between a low pout. His usually-held-high shoulders are drooping. Even the fins near his cheeks look like they’re sagging.

Stopping in his tracks, Link turns around and looks up at yellow eyes. He smirks from ear to ear. 

“Brave Prince Sidon, outdone by a pile of rocks. What would the Zora think?”

Sidon blinks, confused for a moment. And then realization washes over his features. “Link!”

Link grins.

“And to think, all this time I thought you were so kind!”

Link keeps grinning. 

“If only all the Hylians knew what a– a– a _tease_ their hero was!” 

The blond laughs, unable to help it; Sidon looks flustered and he’s never seen that, never heard him trip over his words.

“Only Hylians? I thought I was a hero to the Zora, too?”

“Not anymore! Your title has been officially _revoked_ , by royal decree.”

Link laughs again. He’s tired from their trek, and that’s probably why his mouth keeps running away on him. It had always worked more (not better) when he was spent. 

“Oh, has it?”

“Yes, it has.” Sidon puts his hands on his hips and leans down over Link. He’s like a giant red-and-white tower blocking out the sun. From beneath his large shadow, Link grins up at him.

“How can I get it back?”

Sidon rubs at his chin, pretending to think about it. “I suppose something will come to me.”

Link folds his arms and leans back to get a better look at the Zora. “Just let me know.”

Sidon grins, all teeth and confidence again, and Link feels like he’d said something right for once in his life.

When they walk under the flagged entrance of Hateno Village, every villager in sight freezes at the sight of them. They gape at the giant red Zora beside the Hero of Hyrule. And then they gape even wider when they realize exactly which giant red Zora it is.

“Link!” Uma stops him just inside the entrance, whispering harshly as if she thinks Sidon’s considerable height makes him unable to hear her way down near the ground, “That’s a _Prince_!”  
  
Link nods at her.

“You stupid boy! You should have sent word!” She gives him a whack across the back of the head, not enough to hurt, and frowns at him. “You’re bringing royalty to our village!” Every winkle on her face creases. 

Rubbing at the back of his head, Link stays quiet. He hadn’t even thought about it. 

Hateno Village is his home. Or as close to a "home" as he's ever felt he had. Bringing Sidon here wasn't bringing a Prince to visit some small town. Bringing Sidon here was just… bringing Sidon here. To his home.

Link bows slightly in apology. Uma shakes her head and tsks at him, before she smiles up at the Zora.

“Welcome to Hateno Village, your majesty. We’re not used to having anyone important here, so please excuse our manners.” 

“Not at all!” Sidon grins down at her. 

“Though if you are traveling with _Link_ ,” Uma looks at him out of the corner of her eyes, “then our manners may be a step up.” 

Sidon laughs heartily at his expense.

Link sighs. He likes the town he’d apparently lived in a hundred years ago and chooses to live in now... mostly because they don't treat him like the Hero of Hyrule. They treat him like this. 

Hateno has a quiet, quant comfort to it. The people are odd but friendly, and Link's never done well with normalcy, so he feels at ease here.

Not that he wants to stay.

It's just nice… nice to know he has somewhere.

“Do you need a place to spend the night?” Uma asks.

Link shakes his head. “We’re just here to pick something up.”

After they say goodbye to Uma and head towards the armour shop, Sidon looks all around, mouth hanging open and eyes wide.

“A real Hylian village! Marvelous! I had no idea what they might look like. I’ve only read about them. There’s smoke coming out of so many roof tops! Indoor fires, what a thought! Do you think my father would let me build one in the palace? Oh Link, this place is _fantastic_! I knew you preferred living in separate homes like this but to see them all lined up together…” 

Sidon continues talking from behind him, and Link can’t help but smile to himself.

\---

The armour Sophie made for Sidon is simple silver plating. There are blue gems embedded in parts where intricate metal patterns meet. It’s fancy. When he picks it up and tugs at it, it feels as sturdy as everything she makes.

Sophie gapes at him. “Link. You didn’t tell me this was for a _prince_.” She covers her face with her hands shyly. “I’m so sorry, Prince Sidon. I hope you like it all the same.”

Sidon looks from her, to Link, to the armour in Link’s hands.

“ _This_ is for me as well?”

Link nods. 

From behind her hands, Sophie says, “If Link had told me it was for you, your majesty, I would have taken more care.”

Sidon takes both of her hands, holding them earnestly. “It’s _perfect_ , please don’t fret. I do not require anything. Everyone here has already been too kind.” His eyes start to water. “Thank you.”

She blinks at him, brown eyes also watery. “You’re too kind.”

“No, you _Hylians_ are too kind.”

“I’m so sorry. I can re-make the plating, if you have time to wait.”

Link looks at their held hands. 

“There’s no need. They truly look beautiful.”

Sidon’s claws are touching her skin, only barely. 

“Are you certain? I promise the quality is long-lasting. Link _did_ manage to tell me they were for a journey into the desert. So they have cooling magic, too.”

“You can use magic?” Sidon’s grip tightens. His opaque blue claws poke at her skin. They indent it now, only a little.

Sohpie nods. “Yes! Only for crafting, though.”

“Amazing! Surely this village is lucky to have you. And any travelers that come through.”

“Oh. I don’t think I’m so special.”

“Nonsense! A Hylian who can enchant strong armour? You are _invaluable_.”

Her face flushes slightly pink. “Well– thank you, Prince Sidon. That’s very nice of you to say.”

Sidon stares at her. His eyes are focused, stuck like there’s no one else in the room. He’s still holding her hands. Those claws are still pressed into her skin. 

Link walks towards the wall of armour Sohpie has on display. He reaches out to feel the cloth of a shirt, dark green in colour.

“What else do you make with your crafting and Hylian magic?”

“Oh. Well... weapons, of course.”

“Weapons! Fantastic!”

“No, it’s… I’m just a simple seamstress and black smith.”

“Nonsense! Being a smith is an important job. Besides that, you’re smart, and talented, and lovely to look at, as well!”

A loud metallic _crash!_ echoes through the shop. Both Sophie and Sidon turn to look behind them.

Link had dropped the helmet he’d been holding.

“Sorry,” he says, his heart in his mouth. Fumbling, Link leans down to pick the helmet up. His palms are slick with sweat. He drops it again. “Ah.”

“No harm done,” Sophie says. “That one’s sturdy as rock.” She makes her way over to pick the helmet up. She’s smiling until she gets a look at his face. “You’re awfully red, Link. Are you feeling alright?”

He nods. 

When he pays her for Sidon’s armour, he gives her a large tip, insisting it’s for any damage he might've done to the helmet. Sophie tries to refuse but Link drops the rupees on the counter, takes the armour, and leaves the shop.

Sidon doesn’t follow right away. He says a few final words of thanks, lingering.

Link looks at the armour in his arms and waits.

When the Zora finally comes out, Link gives him the armour without a word. Luckily this isn’t at all out of character for him. He turns around as soon as Sidon takes it, and starts thinking of which direction they should head out from. South would be the fastest, but the west exit is probably the safest...

“Link?”

The slow and safe route is what they should take. Sidon said he didn’t need to get to Gerudo Town in any hurry. He’s meeting with Riju to talk about a trade deal. No need to take unnecessary risks. 

“Link.”

The mountain had been a _bit_ of a risk, but safer than fighting shockarrow wielding lizalfos. But if he can help it, he won’t take Sidon up any more mountains.

“ _Link_.”

A mass of red and white fills his vision. Sidon had stepped around him and stopped in front, cutting off his path.

Link looks up at yellow eyes, expression blank.

“You must let me thank you properly. I can’t… I can hardly believe you’d do all of this for me. I don’t know what to say. I…” Sidon looks down at the armour he’s carrying. His eyes are watery, and he wipes at them with one clawed finger. “No one has ever taken so much care with me before.”

Link nods at him sternly and with a stiff jaw. “It’s my job to get you to Gerudo Town safely.”

Sidon’s brow lifts in confusion. He’s cradling the armour close to his chest. They’re standing in the middle of the village, and people are staring.

“Of course,” the Zora says, returning the curt nod.

Link walks around him and heads for the west exit.

* * *

They veer south as soon as the land opens up and they’re able. Link pulls his slate out, studying the map. They need to make their way towards the Faron Grasslands. There are a few roads from there to the desert. The only issue is the sheer amount of monsters that will be on those roads. He knew this would come up but he’d hoped to have a plan by now.

Behind him, now wearing the silver-and-blue armour Sophie had made, Sidon looks over his shoulder.

“Where are we heading now?”

Link traces a finger along the map, holding the slate up a bit higher to Sidon can see. “We need to get to here,” he says, pointing to the Faron Grasslands, “but the road is full of bokoblins and lizalfos and keese and… everything. The mountains here,” he points at East Necluda, “are full of monsters, too. We should go around them. But there are wolves, and bears, and…” Link sighs through his nose. “We’d probably be fine against wolves.”

Sidon squints down at the map. “It looks like there’s a river here,” he says. “From this shrine,” he points at the Kam Urog Shrine, “to Lake Hylia?”

Link had known that. It's the river that starts with Lake Jarrah. The shoreline is full of high rock ledges, and there aren’t too many octoroks in those waters. All of the bokoblins and lizalfos in the area tend to stay in their camps along the shoreline, meaning if they traveled by water they could avoid pretty much everything save for a few ocktorocks.

But.

“It’d be three days of swimming. And I’d slow you down, so probably more like five.”

“What if you were to ride on my back?” Sidon asks.

Link shakes his head. 

“Why not?”

“I…” He frowns down at the slate, his stomach doing a flip. It’s well past noon. Maybe he’s hungry. “Wouldn’t it be hard for you? Carrying me,” he says.

Sidon takes two steps around Link, coming to a stop in front of him for the second time today. He’s smiling, and it isn’t his confident one. It’s one Link’s never seen before. It’s small and warm and somehow like a secret. “Like you carrying me over a snowy mountain?”

“That’s…”

“Precisely the same thing,” Sidon says. His soft smile shifts into the confident grin Link knows so well.

“Sidon.”

Still grinning, the Zora falls to one knee on the grass. He takes one of Link’s hands. Tugging the blond forward by it, Sidon sets Link’s hand right over his chest, only the light press of fingers, and he says, “Link, I would be _honoured_ to carry you. Please let me repay the kindness you have shown me.”

Against his white broad chest, Link’s hand twitches. Sidon’s skin is smooth and warm. He feels his face grow warm and looks up at yellow eyes which are now much closer than usual. Link focuses instead on his own hand, dropping his gaze.

Just barely, he can see the grin falling from Sidon’s angular face. His sharp teeth poking through an open mouth. The kind of expression that’s either sad or confused; lost or trying to figure out something new.

“If you’re sure,” Link replies, his voice low and quiet. “Then… alright.”

Grin returning, Sidon pulls Link’s hand flat against his chest. Link breathes in sharply, once and sudden. He hopes the Zora doesn’t notice. His heart is fluttering a mile a minute. He _knows_ there’s no way Sidon can hear that, but it rings so loud in Link’s ears he feels like the whole of Hyrule can hear the way his body’s reacting.

“...Sidon.”

“Hm?”

“Will you…” Link tugs at his hand.

The Zora blinks himself out of some stupor. “Oh. Yes.” He releases Link and then stands back up to his full height. “Onwards, my friend. Lead us to the river, and I will do the rest.”

* * *

They get to the river by nightfall. Sidon hardly notices the time going by. He is too busy either looking around at the wild nature of Central Necluda, looking at the Hylian Warrior in front of him, or looking down at the armour plating said warrior had purchased for him. 

Sidon knows himself fairly well, he thinks. Being given gifts is… He’s _always_ liked it. Especially clothes or jewelry. His father told him once that his mother had been the same way. And since Sidon has no memories of his mother, he’d always kept this predilection close to his heart. It’s not ‘getting presents’ that he cares about, exactly (though he does not think he’ll ever stop staring at himself in this armour). It’s that someone _thought_ about him. Link had been thinking about him, sometime during his long bouts of silence. And who would not be happy about that?

“We should head out in the morning,” the Hylian says, stopping once they’re beside Lake Jarrah. 

Sidon can’t help but smile down at him. He wants to thank Link, but thinks perhaps he’s been too… too _much_ , lately. He knows he can be a lot sometimes, and he knows Link likes his space. 

So instead he only says, “Sounds good. Shall I get us something to eat?” He’s been itching to get into the water all day; unused to so many hours without it.

Link shakes his head. “I’ll handle it. You want to set up a fire?”

Sidon nods.

With a wave the Hylian disappears into the forest. Sidon watches him go until he can’t see any sight of him. Sighing in contentment, he starts gathering tree branches for a fire.

About ten minutes in, Sidon hears something explode in the forest.

And he trusts Link. He trusts him more than anyone else.

But he runs into the woods anyway, yellow eyes wide and heart hammering in his ears. If Link’s using the Shiekah bombs, then something must be attacking him. He’d said the woods around here were not generally full of beasts, but Ganon’s minions roam, especially now that they have no master.

He hears the sound of a large tree trunk splintering and crashing down onto the earth.

Sidon runs faster, twigs scraping at his skin.

He sees a blot of blond hair and makes a straight line for it, ready to fight.

He sees one bomb exploding, followed by a tree falling, and–

And Link bending down to pick up apples.

“Link?” Sidon says, eyes blared wide, breathless and confused.

Link nearly jumps out of his own skin. He’s crouched on the ground, arms full of the red fruit. A few tumble out.

“What are you doing?”

Link looks down at the apples in his arms. Blinking blankly, his only reply is, “I’m too short, so I blow them up.”

“Can you not _climb_ them?”

Link shrugs, no explanation forthcoming.

Sidon gapes at the Hylian. He shouldn’t be surprised. This is the same man who electrocuted himself three times in that shrine just to ‘test things out.’ This is the same man who Sidon has seen leap off the top of the palace just for the fun of it. This is the same man who willingly followed him into the fight against Vah Ruta when they hardly knew one another, no questions asked.

This is very much… _Link_. He is not unintelligent, but he thinks through his actions. In order to exist, Link needs to _move_. Sidon could tell that about him from the first time he saw him, just outside of the Zora Domain, climbing up cliffs and jumping off of towers. What better person to save all of Hyrule than one whose actions are the scope through which all his thoughts are aimed? Link does everything as a test. Just to see what may happen. To see what may work.

Sidon can’t help but like this about him. Even though Link’s reckless behaviour has given him at least six heart attacks since they began their journey together. And even before that. 

He likes it regardless.

“Link.”

The blond tilts his head.

“I have a proposition for you…”

This leads to Sidon passing Link apples from the tall tree branches, and Link gathering them in the bag. Link doesn’t seem to mind the change in strategy. The Hylian is goal-orientated to be sure, and simply does whatever will get the task done.

Yet another thing Sidon likes about him.

Link’s company is easy. It doesn’t come with expectation, or with the assumption of royalty. No one at home would ever let him pick apples in a foreign forest or climb a dangerous snow-covered mountain. When Sidon had asked his father if he might go in person to Gerudo Town to strike this trade deal, the King refused at first. 

Sidon understands. He always has. His mother and sister are both dead.

They sit down later that evening to eat baked apples and fish. They build their small campsite next to Lake Jarrah, just below a small forest and down a gradual slope. There had been a moblin circling the bank, but Link dealt with it via a few well-placed bombs, and now they’re peacefully alone.

Sidon finds himself unable to look at anything save for the firelight through blond hair, blue eyes, and pointed ears.

Link, while letting him climb mountains and pick apples and exist out in the open with no diplomacy to hold him still, also keeps him safe. And Sidon does not know the word for this. For the feeling he gets when Link simultaneously protects him and lets him be more free than anyone else ever has.

* * *

When Sidon wakes up the next morning, Link is already up and packing their things. He walks back and forth, making sure they remember all the food they’d found yesterday. He tests out his weapons, his bow, and his shield. He even takes a look at Sidon’s spear, propped up against a tree. 

He kicks out the still half-burning fire with a barefoot, recoils in pain, only to stick his foot back into the hot coals and try again. _Then_ he puts his boots on.

Sidon can’t help it. He starts laughing from the water, tiny splashing noises ringing out as he shakes.

Two blue eyes glare at him.

“Oh _Link_ ,” Sidon says, pulling himself to the lake’s bank. He rests his chest against the rocks and puts his chin in his hand. “You are so…” He laughs again, somehow unable to find the words. Link prattling around at their campsite was the first sight he’d woken up to. Link’s blond hair swaying in the wind, his pointed ears and muscled forearms and the way he holds himself creating his outline, shining in the pink-sun of early morning. He’s wearing a simple shirt with only his shorts, likely in preparation for traveling by water. 

“So what?” Link asks. By now he’s standing at the shoreline. With his hands on his hips, he peers down at the Zora.

“So… you,” Sidon says.

Link gives him a look. _What’s that supposed to mean?_

“The Hero of Hyrule, burning his toes on some hot embers because he can’t take the time to put his boots on.”

Link’s eyes drop to his teeth, and Sidon widens his grin to show more of them. 

“Aren’t I only the Hero of the Hylians now, not all of Hyrule anymore?”

“That’s right!” Sidon says, still flashing a sharp grin. “Have you thought about how you’re going to regain the trust of the Zora?”

“I thought their Prince believed in me, no matter what,” Link says, giving him a flat stare.

Sidon can’t help it when his mouth grins even wider. He’s not sure he’s shown anyone this many of his teeth before. “Hmm... _Perhaps_ he still does.”

“Yeah?” Blue eyes drop down to his mouth again and Link’s own lips open for a quick moment, soundless. He looks back at Sidon and says, “Maybe he could show me.” 

“Very well, warrior.” Still grinning, Sidon slips back into the river, slinking down the bank. He leaves only his head visible. “Please mount yourself on my back! As a show of my highest appreciation for all you have done for the Zora, I will escort you through these perilous waters.”

\---

The Hylian seems to climb onto his back slowly, as if he were nervous. Overly-cautious. It’s not an everyday event for a Zora to let anyone ride on their back to be sure. But he and Link have done this before, so Sidon can't guess as to the source of the hesitation. 

Link shifts on top of him, getting his center of gravity in the right place; likely a bit difficult with his sword, shield, arrows, and Sidon’s spear all strapped to his back. 

The weight is considerable. Link may be half his height but the Hylian is all muscle, right from his calves to his arms. His general traversing across Hyrule and saving the world from Ganon can attest to that. He’s not _too heavy_ – Sidon can carry him, absolutely – but he can feel it. He can feel Link sitting on his back, his strong legs splayed down either side of his ribs, inner thighs and calves rubbing against his gills. 

Link hasn’t said anything.

“Are you alright, Link? Did you not sleep well?”

“I…” He trails off as he so often does. Sidon doesn’t speak. He waits patiently. Link often needs time to process his thoughts into words. “I’m good,” he says. Two strong hands grip at Sidon’s shoulders, forearms resting against the fins on his head. 

A shiver runs up Sidon’s back. He’s used to cooler waters than this, so it seems a bit strange that his body should react at all.

“Alright! We are on our way.” 

Sidon begins swimming downstream, his head up and eyes forward. Lake Jarrah is surrounded by high cliff walls, and the current isn’t strong at all. He moves slowly. If there are any monsters up high along the bank, he wants to give himself time to spot them.

* * *

The first leg of their journey down the long river is uneventful – at least where monsters are concerned. They pass by many sights that Sidon can’t help but ask Link about. An archery range, a small village, one of the many Hylian horse stables, and few farmers who sell goods to surrounding villages.

“What’s that?” Sidon asks, peering to his left towards a gated brick wall.

“Fort Hateno.”

“Ah.” A special place for Hylians, then. “Have you been inside?”

“Yeah.”

Just past the fort is a dam, which blocks their way down river. Link leads them around it through an opening by land. The forest here is quiet and dark. Somehow the sun has gone down, but Sidon hadn't noticed when it had set.

They stop for the night just on the other side of the dam.

* * *

The next day brings faster currents and a few dozen bokoblin camps. Sidon sinks low in the water and keeps them hidden perfectly. Link assures him that bokoblins are weak, but the Zora doesn’t see any purpose in taking risks.

“Are you sure this…” Link trails off, nodding towards the rapid water.

Sidon grins, his jaws half inside the river. “Link, I am a Zora! If there’s one thing I can do it is _swim_.”

From on top of his back, the Hylian laughs softly. “Right. Sorry.”

They pass by another Hylian horse stable, and a fellow with what looks like an entire store on his back stops and waves at them from the shore.

“Hello Link! Who’s your friend?”

Link waves back, but doesn’t offer any words. 

Wanting to be friendly Sidon speaks for them, “Hello, Hylian! My name is Prince Sidon! The waters here are lovely!” 

“What? Your name is ‘Prince’?”

Sidon can’t hear him as they move past the stables, further down the river. But he waves until he’s out of sight.

“That was Beedle,” Link explains. “Merchant.”

“I see. How wonderful!” 

* * *

Overhead, stuck out on a teetering cliff that hangs fifty feet above the river, is a shrine. Sidon gapes up at its considerable height and the precarious way it hangs nearly in the open air.

“Have you been up there before, Link?”

“Yeah.” He pulls out the sheikah slate, leaning far over Sidon’s back to show him the name of the shrine. _Wahgo Katta_. 

“What a great height to dive from!” Sidon exclaims, craning his neck to look up at the blue glowing structure again.

Link laughs, only once, and slips the slate back onto his hip. “The water’s too shallow.”

* * *

The fifth day of their trek down river changes the shorelines drastically. The high cliffs and green grassy fields fade away. In their place are long blades of yellow summer reeds, dried out in the heat. They’re near Bosh Kala Shrine, Link informs him with the sheikah slate. Sidon looks for the Zora Domain on the map and can’t believe how far from home he is.

Tiny bugs buzz back and forth along the flat surface of the winding river. They dissipate as Sidon reaches them, scattering like sparks in every direction. Slower-moving dragonflies soar between the tall summer reeds that line the banks; their buzzing is deeper, and he can feel it vibrate through the water. 

Overhead is the clear call of chorusing songbirds, their chirps and cries loud enough to fill the empty spaces between the low-hanging tree branches that nearly touch the river’s surface. 

The Zora Domain has its own kind of natural beauty, of course, but it is not like this. This river is much further south and the birds carry notes of the tropics in their bright calls. Sidon’s never seen yellow reeds before. He’s never seen the pale-blue flowers that hang off the rocks. He sighs out through his gills happily, and lets himself sink a little deeper into the water.

Link seems to notice this. He shifts a bit on his back, but doesn’t speak.

The two of them drift down the river in this quiet peacefulness, the music of Hyrule’s wilds surrounding them like a canopy of sound.

Sidon sinks down even further, a great sigh escaping him through his gills. He can picture perfectly the expression he knows Link is making: knitted eyebrows, head titled. Most people would just ask verbally but Link speaks with his whole body, always.

“It feels so _good_ to be in the water again,” Sidon explains. “Especially for days on end.”

The hand on his left shoulder tightens as Link leans over, ducking under a low vine. “Did you miss it?” 

“Of course!” Sidon lifts himself up a little to be able to speak. “While we are fine in the open air, Zora are meant to be in water. Nothing else feels more like home.” 

The hands on his shoulders go slack. Not in any significant way, only small, the release of muscle no more dramatic than a release of air. But Link speaks with his hands, his eyes, the tilt of his head; he speaks with the way he stands, the way he kicked out hot embers with a bare foot. If his hands are doing something, then Link is saying something.

But Sidon is not a mind reader, and so he waits, enjoying the cool water gliding through his gills.

“There’s a beach,” the Hylian says.

“Hm?” 

“South of the Grasslands, that’s the coast. We can—” 

Link freezes, his hands gripping hard, fingernails digging in. He snaps to attention with the reflexes of a wild cat.

Sidon slows to nearly a stop and doesn’t make a sound. Link had said they’d need to watch out for octoroks here. Perhaps there is one up ahead and his keen ears had heard it before Sidon’s aquatic ones could ever hope to. 

“Sidon,” he whispers, leaning down into the side of his head, pressed in close, “Get as low in the water as you can and move slow.”

\---

Link’s stomach sinks with dread. How did _wizzrobes_ get all the way out here? They’re normally further north, either hidden in swamps or guarding towers. 

And these ones are electric.

What are the chances, Link wonders as he pulls out his bow, that they followed them from the Domain?

Not remembering to ask or communicate it in any way, Link climbs further up Sidon. He puts himself on his shoulders, sitting on top of his headtail and neck, gripping with his thighs. He listens with straining ears. The birds had stopped chirping, the bugs had flown away; all he can hear is the faint sound of lightning rods humming through the trees. 

He debates getting Sidon out of the water, but that would be too noisy. They’d get swarmed in seconds. 

Nocking an arrow, he squints down the river, breaths shallow. 

Link can’t miss one. Not a single shot. The armour would help, _maybe_ Sidon wouldn’t die from one hit, but he’d definitely pass out and then the second hit would come while Link was busy drowning.

As they turn around a bend in the river, Link sees the white and yellow of the first wizzrobe. Six more come into view. They don’t seem to be waiting for them, which negates his theory that they’d followed Sidon and him here. Maybe they’re just wandering. Doesn’t matter. Link bends down low, pressing himself into Sidon’s head, and speaks as quietly as he can. 

“Don’t make a sound.” 

The Zora nods. 

Straightening back up, Link holds himself as tall as he can. He pulls the bowstring back, eyes honed in, and maps out his attack in his head – three on the left bank close together, easy to pick off in a row; two on the opposite bank, far apart, one half-hidden behind a large tree. As soon as he attacks the first three the other two will hear him and they’ll fire... 

Link lowers his bow. The apple picking they’d done a few days ago comes to mind, along with other times he’s used this tactic. Link calls a bomb out from the slate, aims, and tosses it through the trees. 

It lands right between the two on the right side of the river. Perfect.

Re-nocking the arrow, he aims at the other three. He takes his time lining up his shot. He can’t miss these. “ _Not a single one_ ,” he murmurs under his breath, unaware he’s talking at all. 

Once he’s sure of the aim, Link sends three shots in quick succession into the wizzrobes on his left. At the same time, he sets the bomb off. 

The river explodes into blue and yellow light, dirt and leaves kicking up as the trees keel over. He hopes they hit their mark; can’t afford to look and check. 

His arrows strike the monsters straight through their heads, and all three disappear in a poof of black light. Sweating from concentration, Link swings his focus to the right bank. 

One wizzrobe is still alive. The tree must have missed it. It’s staring straight at them, lightning rod held high, and Link feels any remaining breath leave him.

He pulls his shield out just in time. It’s metal so he throws it forward, letting it catch the electric charge and fall uselessly onto the shoreline. His heart surges, that was too close but he’s got it now, he’s got time— 

Holding tight with his thighs, Link pulls himself up straight and nocks another arrow. He aims directly for the center of the wizzrobe’s face. Letting out a breath, he lets it fly and prays to Hylia or any god that will listen that it meets its mark. 

It strikes through the beast’s head, a screech cascading down the river. 

The wizzrobe dies, and then Link lets himself breathe.

He waits a few beats, straining his ears – but all that comes back is the colourful call of birds and buzzing flies. 

All clear. 

As Link relaxes, he loses his grip around Sidon’s neck and headtail. It was a haphazard perch at best.

Sputtering in surprise, Link slips backwards, falling into the water behind him with a mute _splash_. He drops his bow and arrow on his way down. Flailing, he tries to get himself straight up in the water. The weight of the spear and sword and their food don’t make it easy, but he’s done this before, he’ll—

Two hands grab him around the waist, and his head is pulled out of the water in seconds.

Staring at fearful yellow eyes, Link wipes down across his mouth. If he’s shaking at all he doesn’t stop to think about it. Sometimes when he has to concentrate like that, perfectly, _fully_ , his body gives out a bit afterwards.

“Si—” 

He stops short. There _is_ another sound. Link freezes in Sidon’s hands and listens.

It's the familiar whir of a rock soaring through the air.

Not out of danger yet. 

Octoroks aren’t nearly as threatening as lightning-slinging wizzrobes, though. At least he doesn’t need to worry about Sidon dying in one hit; but if he can help it he still won’t let him get hit at all. Link promised to bring him back in one piece, and that’s not a promise he’s going to break. Not again. 

He puts a finger over his own lips, signaling for the Zora to be quiet. Sidon nods and sinks back down into the water, letting go of his waist.

Slowly, Link makes his way to the shore, grabing his bow and quiver from the water on the way. As long as he’s quiet, he can sneak up and hit the octorok – or octroks – with arrows. If they see him, he’ll run back for the shield. Easy. It’s okay, it’s okay. He’s done this a thousand times. 

Creeping along the bank, Link spots it. He nocks an arrow, aims, and shoots. 

But the beast moves, dodging. This is strange, because they’ve never done that. 

And then it surges forwards, up the river–

Towards _Sidon_. 

Link’s never seen them swim, he didn’t think they _could_ , they always stay still and shoot at him like a bunch of _stupid_ — 

“Sidon!” 

He turns on his heels and runs back down the river, yelling Sidon’s name, hating himself for not expecting something unexpected when his whole _life_ since he’d woken up has been a practice in the unexpected. 

When he reaches Sidon, Link stops in his tracks. 

The Zora’s teeth are bared, he’s growling, his claws gleam like stars in midday light. Sidon dives down deep into the water to meet the monster, jaw open wider than Link knew it could. 

He tears through the octorok like paper.

Link can hear his heartbeat in his ears.

And then something else, something like soft buzzing, or murmured humming. 

More are coming up the river. He sees their shadows on the water before he sees them. Dozens of ocktorocks swimming upstream in a horde.

Link doesn’t have time to watch the scene in front of him. He pulls out his bow, nocks an arrow, and starts firing. 

They work in tandem, the Hylian on shore shooting as fast as he can, the Zora in the water clawing through the ones he misses. 

Near the end of the onslaught, Sidon gets overwhelmed. Link has never seen this many octoroks in one place before, never in a pack like this.

“Sidon! Go under!” He shouts, pulling a fire arrow out of his quiver. The Zora doesn’t hesitate. He’s gone under the river in a flash. Link sends three fire arrows into the thrall of octoroks, burning the last of them to a crisp. 

The smell is foul, the searing stench of living stone. 

Absolute silence follows, no lightning rods buzzing or rocks flying through the air or any other indication that anything else is after them. 

But Sidon doesn’t come up to the surface.

Blood starts to pool. It’s blue and Link doesn’t know for sure what colour Zora bleed, but faint blue cheeks in the snow flash through his mind. 

He drops his bow onto the grass and he sprints into the water, his head full of panic, and his heart trying to break free so it can get to its mark faster than his body can move. 

“ _Sidon_ ,” Link says, voice deaf on his own ears, wading waist deep through river water. He tries to move the pooling blood away, but it’s too thick. He’ll have to go under, he– 

The water shifts suddenly, and Sidon breaks the surface. His bright yellow eyes are the first and only thing Link sees. 

And then Link's swimming forwards, all breath and sense gone from him, blue blood staining his clothes but absolutely unnoticed. 

“Are you okay?” Link is asking, grabbing at the side of his white face, hands slid under the red fins on either side. “Sidon.” He looks back and forth between vibrant yellow.

“Me?” Sidon stares back, and Link can feel him shaking, “ _Me_?” The Zora’s expression falls apart and the next thing Link knows he’s pulled into strong arms. Sidon’s hands grab at his back, and he can feel the claws poking in.

Link wraps his arms around Sidon’s neck. Blue blood unfurls around them. He’d thought, for a sick moment he’d...

“ _I_ was not the one in danger,” Sidon says. 

“Are you bleeding?” 

“Are _you_?” 

As if Sidon’s words caused it, Link suddenly feels all the deep cuts across his face, his arms, and his chest. Looking into the water, he sees red blood mixing with blue. 

“I’m fine,” he says. “You’re—” 

“You are _not_.” Sidon flattens the hands on Link’s back, claws no longer touching him. “I was useless. I couldn’t—” 

“Useless? You killed a _ton_ of them.”

“But not the ones throwing rocks at _you_.” 

“The only reason you’re hurt is because I wasn’t fast enough. I couldn’t kill them all, and they—” 

Sidon shakes his head. “I do not want to put you in unnecessary danger. We do not need to go to Gerudo Town. This selfish request of mine is too unreasonable. You—”

“I would be out here anyway,” Link says in a rush. He tightens his hold around Sidon’s neck. “I don’t want to be anywhere else. I don’t know how to be anywhere else.” 

“But I cannot be the one asking you—”

“You’re _not_.”

A thousand thoughts race through his mind. How can Sidon be worried about him? Link was the one who promised to get him there and back safely, Link is the one who is supposed to know everything about Hyrule and its monsters, Link’s the one who got his sister killed and promised his father he wouldn’t let anything happen to his son, Link’s the one with some problem because the world is at peace but he feels like his head’s a mess without any purpose so he’s out here anyway even though he could be home and safe; Link’s the one probably losing his mind.

“I would be here anyway,” he says again.

“Link...” 

The blond tugs at one of the red fins on the side of his head. “Let’s get out of the water.” Sidon’s shaking; whether it’s from being cold, bleeding, anxiety or all three -– a fire would help.

He holds Sidon’s hand the whole way out of the river and up the bank. Despite the Zora’s protests, Link gathers the fire wood, piles it, and lights it with flint. He shuffles through their stuff until he finds an old shirt. Link bites down on one end and tears it into strips.

He doesn’t have a lot of experience cleaning wounds, since he never bothers with his own. But Link washes the gashes across Sidon’s torso with river water he boils over the fire, and wipes it clean with the cloth. He has one elixir that should start the healing process and without a word he dumps the salve into his hands, rubbing it generously over Sidon’s gashes. 

Red hands grab his wrists. “Save some for yourself, my friend.” 

“I’m used to it,” Link replies, pulling his hands free and going back to his work. 

Frowning, Sidon stands up. Not roughly, he pushes Link to sit down on the rock he’d been on, and takes the salve from him. 

“You are the most stubborn Hylian I’ve ever met, you know.”

Link blinks. They’d switched positions so fast he hadn’t realized it. When his head catches up to what his eyes are seeing, he narrows his gaze up at Sidon. 

“Sit there and frown all you like, my friend.” The Zora sits on the grass in front of him, the rock Link is sitting on narrowing their difference in height. 

Sidon rubs the salve into every single cut: across his back, down his torso, up his calves and thighs and forearms. The stinging dies down after a minute and Link is surprised at how much better the cuts feel with the salve working its magic. 

“I really think we should return home,” Sidon says, rubbing salve into the old cut across Link’s back, the one he’d gotten on the way to the Domain. “I let my fantasies get the best of me. This is far more dangerous than I thought.”

Silently, Link shakes his head.

But Sidon continues as if he hadn’t seen. “I was worse than naïve, Link. I was self-centered and foolish.” His voice falls low and the blond listens closely, shuts his eyes to hear better. “This trade route the Zora want to open with Gerudo Town is important to my people, yet... Do you know why I am going in person to make the deal? Truly?” 

Sidon pauses like he doesn’t want to say the next part. His tone drops darker when he speaks again.

“My father kept me close to home my whole life, for reasons I am sure you understand as well as I do.” Link doesn’t have to think hard to connect the dots. “I simply wanted to see the world,” he says, frustration all through his voice. 

Fingers rub the last of the salve across Link’s forearm, and then Sidon drops his hands to his side, sitting back on his knees. 

“Yet this is too selfish of me. I can’t risk your life simply because my own was sheltered.” 

Link is torn. If Sidon wants to go back to the Zora Domain he’ll take him, but… 

He had watched Sidon fighting the horde of okotoks in the river. Sidon had been… doing the same thing Link does. Fighting for his life, sure, but also… enjoying it. Sidon’s been enjoying every part of this trip. He’d been proud of himself for climbing Mount Lanayru. He’d liked visiting Hateno Village, meeting other Hylians, and he’d sighed happily every five minutes in the river before the wizzrobes showed up.

And even during the fight, Sidon hadn't been afraid. Alert and ready to kill, sure -- but not scared. Not until they got separated, not until all the blood. 

So. 

Link rubs at the back of his neck and stares at the fire. “I… I like it out here. I love the forests, the rivers, traveling… I even like the danger. If they’d hit you, you would’ve… I…” With a groan, Link rubs the heels of his hands into his eyes. He doesn’t normally mind how bad he is at conversation but he’d give just about _anything_ right now for the words to come out of his mouth right. 

“My friend, you do not need to–”

“It’s worth risking my _own_ life, not yours,” Link says, the words spilling out. “But...” But he doesn’t get to decide that for Sidon. That’s up to the Zora. If he stays, Link will keep him alive no matter what, but the choice of what to do with his life is Sidon’s own. “ _This_ is what makes me happy. This.” He gestures to the forest and the river and the open daylight sky. “I’d rather die than stay in my house.” 

Sidon laughs, which surprises Link, but maybe it shouldn’t. They’ve been together for nearly a week. Maybe Sidon already knew.

Link rubs at his mouth, trying to organize his thoughts into words, words into sentences, and get all of that to leave his mouth. “Ganon controlled Hyrule through fear,” he starts slowly. “He split everyone up, locked the champions inside the Divine Beasts, and infected the world with… just… _fear_. And I learned that fear ruins everything.” He looks at the fire again, avoids yellow eyes he knows are staring at him. “I will take you home if that’s what you want. But… I’m having a lot of fun, hauling the Zora Prince across Hyrule. I don’t want to do anything else.”

Link slumps when he finishes, his head in his hands. His cheeks are bright red. He knows it. _It’s from the fire_ , he insists to himself as he stares at it through the cracks of his fingers. 

“You…” Sidon is looking at the side of his head; Link can feel that stare as brightly as he can feel the fire. “Link, you are…”

He shoves his hands further up his face, fingertips in his hairline gripping tight. He’s not making any sense. He’s not saying what he means. There’s too much. Between feeling like a tool without a use and feeling like a freak because he’s bored now that Hyrule’s at peace…. it’s too much. 

“You are _extraordinary!_ ”

Link jumps a little at the shift in Sidon’s tone, his back arching.

“The way you slaughtered those beasts! You struck them down one-by-one, no hesitation, hardly breathing at all. Your concentration on the battlefield is only amplified but your quiet nature. You solve the puzzle of your life the same way you fell those monsters. Directly, without… without the confoundment of contemplation.”

_What?_

“Oh my friend.” As if he had somehow heard the silent question, Sidon says, “What I mean is this: Not only are you a warrior by action, but you are a warrior by heart.” 

_By heart?_

“You’re right, of course.” The Zora laughs, a little self-deprecatingly. “I want to see Hyrule, and if you are happy to take me, then I…” He finishes with a smile, one Link can barely see; he doesn't seem to notice he never finishes his sentence. 

Head still hidden behind his hands (hoping it looks like he’s just resting), Link nods.

“I was only afraid. How right you are,” Sidon says. His voice seems so close. Link’s long ears twitch, warm in the wake of the fire. “Yet what is the purpose in a life spent hiding from what you love?” 

Link closes his eyes behind his fingers. 

Sidon continues, his tone dropping to lower-level, a soft somber sound. “I do not think, however, that my heart can stand to watch you in such danger.”

Link lifts his head away from his hands. There’s no way his mouth will work now. 

Staring at yellow eyes, he moves one hand from himself towards Sidon in a slow sweep.

_Same to you._

Sidon looks down at the hand. For a moment Link thinks he’s going to reach out and take it. Instead, The Zora only smiles at him, shyly. “But, perhaps…” His teeth gleam bright-white in the sunshine and each sharp point seems to pull Link’s gaze in infinitely, “If it is this, if it is you, then the fear is worth it.”

A warm wind passes across Link’s bare shoulders and it rushes to fill the space between them.

It’s all Link can do to nod back. He feels like he’s a hundred feet up in the fresh air of Hyrule, gliding into the neverending skyline.

Sidon grins, using the full length of his jaw, sharp teeth still gleaming white and greatly pleased in the sunlight. “Shall we carry on? Have your wounds had time enough to heal?”

Link nods.

Well… maybe not all of them. 

Once he's dressed and has their gear loaded onto his back again, they take off down the river. Sidon had been shaken up before. He’d been frantic and grabbing at Link like he might vanish. But he seems to be back to himself. Humming softly through his gills, scanning the shorelines back and forth, enjoying the cool water. Swimming slowly. 

Uncertainty has been a constant in Link’s life – at least in this second version of his life. Who knows what he went through before he’d been put to sleep.

He decides to let it rest for now. 

Link closes his eyes. He’s more likely to hear monsters off in the distance than to see them. There shouldn’t be anything down the river until they reach the Faron Grasslands -- but there shouldn’t have been wizzrobes or a swarm of octoroks, either. 

Maybe, with Ganon only dead a few weeks and his calamity still lingering, the monsters are confused. It should peter off. And if it doesn’t, Link will take care of it. 

It’ll give him something to do.

“Link.”

Sidon’s voice lifts his eyelids open. Link grips at his shoulders to show that he’s listening.

“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

Truthfully, Link’s head is starting to hurt. Talking wears him out, especially when he has to explain himself, whether it’s his thoughts or a plan he’d come up with. But he can bear with it.

“Go ahead.”

“How about…” Sidon trails off, and his headtail wags back and forth slowly. Link stares down at it. Is it something Sidon does when he’s thinking? Why hasn’t he done it before? “You can touch my left shoulder for _yes_ , right for _no_ ,” he says, sounding proud of himself for thinking of such a tactic.

It takes Link a second to catch on. But he grips at Sidon’s left shoulder, looking down at the back of his head. Red fins stand tall and sharp-angled in the sunlight. Since the Zora is so tall, Link hasn’t seen his headfins up this close very often.

“Excellent! I hope not to have too many, but if I am to keep you as safe as you keep me, then I must ask.” Link grips at his left should again. _Yes_. “Have you fought those wizard beasts often in your journey?”

 _Yes_.

“They are foul! Tossing lightning around like _cowards_.”

Link laughs silently at the sudden passion in his voice. He grips at Sidon’s left shoulder. _Yes_.

“Did you know they would appear?”

Link holds onto his right shoulder for a few seconds, trying to get across that he had no idea – that he’d never bring them here if he knew.

“So they don’t normally roam this part of Hyrule?” Sidon asks. When Link doesn’t reply – isn’t sure how to answer a negative question clearly – the Zora shakes his head. “Sorry. Are they normally found in other parts of Hyrule?”

_Yes._

“Do you think they are confused without Ganon to guide them?”

Link grips at both shoulders at the same time.

“‘Maybe’?”

 _Yes_.

“I see. I suppose you’re planning to rid the whole world of the lingering calamity, if it does not vanish on its own.”

Link grips Sidon’s left shoulder and holds it. _Absolutely_.

Sidon laughs. “I would expect no less. Do you think we will find more monsters on this river?”

 _Maybe_.

“Very good! I will have ample practice in not letting my fear outwit me, as you have taught me.” 

_I hope not_ , He thinks. Has no way to say it. More important to save energy and concentration for fighting. 

“One more thing.”

Link waits, staring at red skin. Some parts of Sidon are smooth like velvet, and others are a bit rougher, and there are spots...

“You know I… I rarely fight with my bare hands. My teeth.” Sidon sinks lower in the water; Link’s thighs sink along with him. “I hope it did not frighten you.”

Is he embarrassed? _Why?_

It was probably one of the most amazing things Link has ever seen.

“I know Hylians use weapons. Zora do, as well! But we are natural carnivores. So we… you see…”

Maybe it’s the fact that Sidon could have died less than twenty minutes ago, maybe it’s the fact that they’d had a long talk while cleaning each other’s wounds, or maybe it’s just that Link’s exhausted after everything.

He sets his forehead down on the long fin at the back of Sidon’s head. He presses in, only for a moment.

When Link pulls away, he only hears the soft sound of water through gills.

* * *

They stop along the shore for the night as the sun disappears, a white moon taking over the sky. Link cooks them some mushrooms he finds growing at the base of some trees, and Sidon catches more fish. It’s the eighth night they’ve spent like this. Link doesn’t talk, not once during the entire evening. Sidon doesn't seem to mind. He chatters away, tells Link about the first time he’d left the palace as a child, the first memory he has of his sister, and his favourite way to cook fish.

Link smiles as he listens. He looks from the moon, to their fire, to Sidon, and wonders at how fast it’s all becoming familiar. 


	3. Lake Hylia - Faron Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **warnings** : references to death, sexual themes
> 
> I was supposed to update yesterday, but I had too much wine @_@
> 
> Thank you again for all the nice comments and kudos! I get insecure about my writing sometimes. I try hard to cheer myself on but of course the comments help. So thank you.
> 
> Tags get updated with chapters. Feel free to ask me about anything, if you're unsure :)

* * *

The next day goes by without incident. They don’t run into any more unexpected enemies, and instead travel down the river in either companionable silence or chatter on Sidon’s part.

They round a bend in the river, and then Lake Hylia comes clear into view.

“Oh _Link_.” Sidon tries to take it all in at once. The endless grassy hills, the tower off to the south, the flocks of birds, the ruins scattered across the fields, the bridge cascading over the very lake they’re in, just barely visible behind them. The gigantic valley holds all of this inside. It’s flat and Sidon can see far, far off into the distance in every direction. It makes him feel small, something he is not used to.

Movement from the corner of his eye brings Sidon’s gaze upwards. The sudden shift, coupled with how fast they’e moving in the water, forces Hylian on his back to grab his fins to stay put. 

There is a _dragon_ flying over Lake Hylia. A great, yellow, glowing beast! Sidon gawks, he cannot possibly hope to do anything else.

Following his line of vision, Link says, “Farosh.”

“Farosh,” Sidon repeats, saying the name as if it were a gift. 

In the middle of this large lake, in the middle of these endless fields… He feels like a very small speck of dust floating pointlessly through the world. How can any valley be so large? How can so many things exist in the finite space his eyes can hold?

“This is–” Unable to help it, Sidon stops in the water. His feet fall, dangling towards the bottom, and Link holds onto his shoulders. “ _This_ is…”

A strong hand grips at his left shoulder.

“I do not have words....” Sidon feels as if his breath had left and would never return. “Is that beast in the sky… friendly?”

Behind him, Link shrugs. “Sort of?”

Once they reach the shore, passing under the Bridge of Hylia, Link slips off of Sidon’s back and onto the muddy shoreline. 

Sidon frowns. The blond’s legs are shaking slightly. Is he sore from the journey? It can’t be easy to sit up there for days on end.

“Here,” Link says, voice scratching from lack of use. 

Sidon stares at the offered hand. His skin is peach darkened under unyielding sunlight. Link’s palms are rough but his skin is soft in other places. The tops of his hands, his thighs pressing into his gills, his arms where Sidon had rubbed in the salve. He is full of scars, but they have their own sort of smoothness.

“Sidon?”

“Ah! Yes.” He takes Link’s hand and lets himself be pulled up onto the grassy shoreline.

\---

Once they’re standing on land, Link pulls out the slate. He traces a finger along their intended route, and holds it out for Sidon to see. There’s only one way to walk up Lake Hylia’s banks to the flats of the fields, which is where he had Sidon swim to; after that, they need to head through the Faron Woods, down towards the Fural Plains, and then veer off the path at Harran Lake. South from there it’s a straight line to the Faron Sea.

He shows Sidon all of this on the map, and waits quietly to see if he has any questions.

Sidon nods. “Lead the way, brave hero,” he says with his usual grin.

Link turns quickly on his feet and sets off to climb the bank. 

Normally when he comes through here, the bokoblins and moblins aren’t a problem. From Hyrule Castle to the Faron Sea it’s nothing but fields and small hills; it’s easy to stay too far away for the monsters to see him.

But Link is a Hylian. And muscle mass notwithstanding, he’s small. He can blend in with the grass, too, given the right colour dye.

They don’t make it fifty feet away from Lake Hylia before ten different bokoblins spot them. He hears their gnarled cries from half a mile away.

Link spins in a circle, confused for only half a second until he lands his eyes on the ten-foot tall bright red Zora standing next to him, practically gleaming in the afternoon sunlight.

“Ah.”

Sidon smiles at him, completely unaware. “Has something happened?”

There are two options here. Fight like mad while Sidon stays close to him – bokoblins are weak and Link knows now first hand that Sidon can handle himself. 

Or they can run.

It’s only a few hundred yards to the forest.

They’re both pretty tired from their time on the river. Sidon must be more so, since he’d done most of the work.

“Link? I think we have– Yes, we have company.”

Running would be the better option. But Link knows they can win, and if the bokoblins are _dead_ they can’t pose a threat.

He throws Sidon his spear and pulls his own sword out, brow set heavy before he attacks the first beast that rushes in.

\---

“That was grand! You are truly a warrior, Link,” Sidon praises amidst a mass of bokoblin corpses. “Absolutely astounding.”

The Zora wipes a bit of sweat off of his crest.

Link, panting heavily, looks up at him. He watches the way long red and white fingers grip at that spear. His claws, clear blue and sharp, don’t seem to get in his way at all when he wields it.

“You…” Link rubs at the back of his head. His hair had fallen out of its usual tie. He breathes heavily again. “Sidon, you… fight well.”

The Zora grins. “Of course! I am the Zora Prince!”

Sidon walks over and takes Link’s hand, holding it palm up. He places something small inside it.

His hair tie.

Link closes his hand around it. He’s exhausted, both mentally and physically. Can’t wait to sleep. Forest is only a hundred or so yards away. But, one more thing…

“Sidon.”

“Yes?” He’s still grinning, an obvious thrill running through him. 

Link breathes in and out once, slowly. Why can’t he just… _talk_? It seems to be so easy for everyone else. 

“You stand out. They can see you for miles.” Slipping his sword onto his back, Link pulls his hair up and ties it. “We need to avoid fields.”

Sidon nods solemnly and says, “Of course. That would be the smart thing to do.” Then his mouth shifts up into a pleased grin – maybe even a little wicked, but Link might be imagining that. “However, my dear friend… Is it wrong to say I felt a rush? This was somehow _exhilarating_.”

Link grins from one ear to the other. He cocks his head up and blows his messy fringe out of his face. “Told you. Bokoblins are easy.”

Sidon looks a bit dazed for a second. Link barely starts to worry when those yellow eyes blink back to normal.

He’s probably just tired, too.

* * *

The Faron Woods aren’t particularly dangerous. The worst thing here, in Link’s opinion, are all the beehives. It should be an easy walk through. 

The trees are thick, branches long and snaggled, leaves growing in boughs overhead. Most of the sunlight is blotted out. There are a few spaces between the leaves where it sneaks in, lighting the cool and calmness of the Faron Woods in pale yellows that mix neatly with all the green.

“This place is just as wonderful as Lake Hylia,” Sidon says, ducking under a few low-hanging tree branches. “The air is cool. It feels like the Domain.” He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. This is done through his gills. Link’s pretty sure Zora don’t have noses… he’s never seen or heard Sidon breathe through anything except his gills and his mouth.

Looking down the path in front of them, Link sees something move. 

They could walk, but he knows they’re both tired. And… he kind of wants to show off.

He holds a hand out to stop Sidon in his tracks. Yellow eyes look at him curiously, but Link only sets a finger over his lips. Sidon nods and stays quiet.

Stepping lightly, Link disappears into a treetop.

\---

Sidon waits quietly in the cool, dark trees of the Faron Woods. Link had vanished into the forest's leafy canopy without a sound. He stares after him, expecting falling leaves or at least rustling ones, but is met with only stillness. This Hylian moves like a _fox_. He never ceases to amaze Sidon with his skills… Truly he is the Hero of Hyrule.

Looking around the forest idly, Sidon spots a few things of note. Small woodland animals scurrying about; a couple of Hylians walking by who wave nervously at him (Sidon smiles but this seems to only add to their nervousness); and a young Rito man cooking over a fire. No one seems to be upset by the presence of a Zora, though they do stare. Sidon understands. His people do not travel often. He does his best to look friendly and hopes he does not stand out too terribly.

Staring through the treeline, a flash of white catches Sidon’s eye. He can barely make it out through the greenery of the forest, but there is a strange animal a distance away. It’s large, four-legged, and brown with a single patch of white. 

Perhaps a Hylian horse? They’re common around Lake Hylia, or so he has heard.

A streak of yellow and bright cloth drops from on high, crashing down onto the very animal Sidon is staring at.

There’s a scuffle, some stomping of heavy hooves, some familiar laborious grunts...

And then Link is riding towards him.

As the animal gets closer, Sidon can see it’s no Hylian horse. It is much larger, its fur longer and warmer, and it has a pair of winding horns on its head.

Link pulls back on the fur of its neck to bring the animal to a halt directly in front of Sidon. Expression placid as it normally is, the Hylian rubs at the back of his blond head.

After a bit of fretful blinking, Sidon opens his mouth. “What _is_ this magnificent creature? I have never seen the likes of it!” He lifts a hand up, making sure to go slow. The animal leans forwards to smell at him. It snuffles and the Zora grins. “Adorable!”

“Elk,” Link says. “Great elk,” he amends.

There’s an odd squeak in his voice. Sidon looks up at him. On the elk’s back, Link is about half a foot taller than him. It is always so nice to look up into his blue eyes. Sidon can’t explain it, other than the change in perspective is captivating in its rarity.

In an awkward jerk, Link reaches a hand down towards him. 

Sidon stares at the offered hand, blinking a few times. He’s done a fairly decent job at deciphering Link’s intent through body language and other non-verbal cues thus far, but he’s at a loss here. 

“Sorry.”

Link recoils his hand and Sidon doesn’t want _that_ – he reaches out and takes it

“No!” The word tumbles out of his mouth. Sidon clears his throat. “My apologies, dear friend. I simply do not understand what your intent is with this animal.”

Hand held steadfast, Link’s mouth stays stuck open. He is unhelpfully unresponsive.

Sidon stares up into clear blue eyes and waits patiently. Link has hardly spoken more than three words at a time in the past few days. It seems their conversation on the bank of the river, after they’d been ambushed, had worn him out – verbally, at least.

Sidon had always known Link to be quiet. But now he thinks perhaps it’s _more_ than a simple preference for silence. Link’s face had been buried in his hands during said conversation. His eyes had been closed for nearly half of it, and he’d been slumped over where he sat. He’d groaned in frustration a few times, as well.

He seems to expend a great deal of mental energy in order to express himself. More than most people need to.

And so, Sidon waits in earnest.

Eventually, Link speaks.

“It’s a long way to the coast. She should be strong enough to carry us both.” The hand Sidon is holding, peach in colour and calloused from a life spent wielding a wide array of weaponry, grips at his own. Tight. “I can pull you up.”

Understanding dawns on him, and Sidon says, “Oh! Of course. You must think I’m a fool.” 

Link shakes his head. “Zora don’t ride animals. Right?”

None in the Domain are large enough for anyone but children, and since Zora can grow to be quite large as they get on in life, they don’t make a habit of riding on any beasts’ backs. Sidon says, “That’s right. Still, if I am to see Hyrule, I ought to have more of an open mind. Are you sure I am not too heavy?”

Even as he asks, Sidon tightens his grip on Link’s hand, and the Hylian pulls him up. 

Although Sidon has never mounted an animal before, he manages to swing his leg over its wide back. 

“You need to move up,” Link says, scooting forward himself to give Sidon more room. “You’ll slip off.”

Sidon does what he’s told, though suspending his center of gravity on top of this elk feels precarious at best. He looks down at his feet, at least a meter off the ground, and understands why Link had to climb a tree to tame this animal.

“Here?”

“More.”

Sidon moves up further, slipping his thighs along either side of the other man, practically tucking Link into himself.

“Here?” Sidon asks again, wondering at his racing heart. He’s never ridden on an animal’s back though; it is only natural to be a bit nervous.

Link nods.

He turns the great elk by tugging at its fur, and then commands it into a slow run. But the jolt is unexpected, the up and down motion of the animal even more so, and Sidon nearly slips off the back anyway. 

A hand reaches out and grabs at his forearm, holding on tight and keeping him in place.

Sidon tries to apologize, but nothing comes out.

His arm is pulled the full way around Link. Around his abdomen. Sidon feels the muscles contract there. But he’s not falling and surely this is preferable. He would not want to be an inconvenience by falling. 

Sidon slips his other arm around Link as well. The angle is a bit difficult. But Link, for all his lack of height, has never lacked in sturdiness. 

“Is this right?” Sidon asks, feeling off-kilter from the ride. 

The blond head under him, near the bottom of his chest, nods. Link is sat up straight, head held high. He’s focused. Sidon keeps quiet. Link’s thighs are lined up with his. They’re gripping the elk, along with the handfuls of fur. Sidon looks down at his bare forearms. Every muscle is flexed. He can just make out faint blond hairs, hardly visible in the scattered sunlight through the trees, up and down his forearms, all along the many scars.

Once he gets used to the bobbing of riding on the elk’s back, Sidon begins to enjoy the scenery more. The forest fades away and they’re in a field again. Bokoblins and moblins alike spot them, but Link kicks at the elk’s sides and it breaks into a leaping run. 

Sidon fears he’ll slip back but Link grabs at his hands and holds him still. And Sidon had known the Hero of Hyrule was strong, of course he had known. He’d witnessed Link calm Vah Ruta. Link had pulled him up Lanayru Mountain. Link wields blades the same size as himself without any trouble. He climbs up sheer cliff sides as if Hylians were part spider.

But to experience that strength first hand seems to be a different feeling altogether.

Red rocky cliffs come into view next, and it’s here that Link brings the elk to a stop. He removes Sidon’s hands from his waist, slips a leg over the animal’s back, and hops off to the ground. Sidon is about to panic – he’s no coward and perhaps someday could ride an animal on his own but he feels _fully_ out of sorts right now–

But Link keeps a grip on the side of the elk, and he holds his hand up towards Sidon.

“You truly are a knight,” Sidon says with a laugh, taking the offered hand easily. 

Link lets go as soon as Sidon’s feet are on the ground. “Sorry.”

His legs feel as sturdy as water. Sidon tries not to let it show. “Don’t be. It is… It is part of your charm.” He tries to say it as he always does. 

Link looks away. He gives the large elk a gentle shove and it bursts into a run, heading back towards the woods.

Then the Hylian looks up at him, his eyes unmoving, expressionless, but mouth open as if he wants to say something. And it makes Sidon’s heart sink. He does not want to cause this man unnecessary stress. Not over anything.

Hyrule has done that enough to him already.

He wonders, in between saving the world and discovering his forgotten past, if anyone has ever told him.

Staring down at the bags under Link’s eyes, Sidon determines that he will, once they both have a much-needed rest.

\---

“Beach,” Link manages to croak out, and turns to walk away. He can still feel Sidon at his back, his full chest swarming all around him, the length of his thighs and arms encasing him. And Sidon had been staring at him and he couldn't… he had to _go_.

The Faron Sea is just beyond the red cliffs next to them. Once they round the corner, Sidon will see it.

“Link, do you perhaps want to stop to rest?” Sidon asks from behind him. “There is no hurry.” He stops walking, but doesn’t turn around, and can’t get himself to speak. “My arrival in Gerudo Town is expected, but not time sensitive.”

His heart is racing. He wants to run, head for the coast and disappear in the water. His head feels like it’s being pulled in fifty different directions. He needs to calm down, he _knows_ he does, but…

“Link?” 

The blond holds his left temple, closing his eyes. His shoulders are tight, and his headache hadn’t ever fully gone away. But he ignores them usually, is used to ignoring whatever aches he gets. Too much to do to be unwell.

“Does your head hurt?”

Link shakes his head.

“Yes it does, you stubborn Hylian.” 

He has been thinking about showing Sidon the Faron Sea ever since he’d read the letter from Zelda. He could picture him here, in the sand, under the palm trees, deep in the aquamarine water under the sun… Link could see it clearly. If anyone would love it out here in the wind and sunlight, it would be Sidon.

“I want you to see the coast.”

“It will still be there in an hour.” 

The sword at Link’s back is pulled away, followed by his shield and quiver. Sidon sets his items against the red rocky wall next to them. He takes his spear off as well, and sets this down next to Link’s things. “Do you think this spot is safe enough to rest in?”

Link nods, feeling numb.

“Very well.” Two large hands land on his shoulders, and Link is placed neatly against the rock wall as well. “Can I have your flint?”

Link hands it over. Unable to speak, he rests his head against a high red rock wall behind him, and watches Sidon get to work.

The next thing he knows, he’s sat next to a roaring fire with a hunk of meat in his hands. 

Link blinks at the fire. Judging by the sun in the sky, it’s midafternoon.

Had he blacked out?

Sidon is sitting next to him, leaning his shoulders and head down, looking worried. 

“You fell asleep standing straight up,” the Zora explains. “You gave me half a fright, my friend.”

Link rubs at his eyes with his free hand. “Sorry.”

“Are you truly awake now?”

Link nods. He hasn’t done that in a long time. Not since he’d been up in Akkala. He used to sleepwalk a lot until he learned to listen to his body better. 

“Sorry,” he says again. 

Sidon frowns and shakes his head. The red of his skin shines brightly under the sun. The markings on his head seem to shimmer. He’s obviously meant for sunlight…

“Link.”

His name said by that voice in that tone brings his eyes up to yellow ones.

“There is a way of speaking without using words,” Sidon says. “Have you ever heard of it?”

Link shakes his head.

“It’s shared among all of Hyrule, though there are slight variations.” Sidon is sitting cross-legged on the grass, moving his free hand while he talks, the other holding a skewered fish. “I am no doctor, that is certain. But do you think having a traveling companion may be difficult for you?”

Link shakes his head again.

“Let me rephrase.” Sidon sets the fish down, leaning down a little to meet Link’s upward gaze. “You may like my company, as I’m sure you like the Princess’s or any other companion you have had. But, Link. Communication clearly wears on you.”

Link rubs his eyes. What is he supposed to do about it? His silence is mistaken for insensitivity all the time; he’d gotten used to it. Still, he doesn't want Sidon to think of him like that. He tries to talk, to say _anything_ , but nothing comes.

“Perhaps,” Sidon starts, peering at him with a hopeful expression, “we could create our own hand signals? Like we did when we were in the river?” 

Removing his hands from his eyes, Link looks up at him, tilting his head in confusion. 

Turning where he’s sat on the grass, Sidon faces Link fully, tone growing more excited. “We could make some that we will need to use often. I have thought of a few while you were… sleeping, if that is what you were doing. May I show you?”

Staring with wide eyes, Link nods.

Sidon shows him hand gestures for: _yes_ , _no_ , _maybe_ , _fire_ , _water_ , _food_ , _danger_ , _monster_ , _stop_ , _thank you_ , _you’re welcome_ , _wait_ , _good_ , _bad_ , and _rest_. He says each one out loud as he demonstrates them.

“Keep in mind they are not the true signs. I do not know them. But for now, they will work for our purposes.”

Taking a bite of the food in his hands, Link tries to get his heart to calm down but… How long has Sidon been thinking about this? If he had all of those already made up… Then, how long…

“My friend,” the Zora starts, sounding weary with worry, “you do not need to push yourself like this. Please do not talk for my sake. I am perfectly content with your companionable silence.”

There’s a lot Link wants to say. But none of it will organize into words, not even into coherent thought.

So instead he looks up at Sidon, and uses one of the signs he’d just been shown.

A sweeping hand, from Link to the Zora next to him, palm up and fingers held together. _Thank you._

Sharp teeth gleaming in a sudden grin, Sidon signs back. Palm down, he sweeps one hand from Link to himself, as if physically accepting the gratitude. 

_You’re welcome._

* * *

Link sleeps for another two hours, though he doesn’t remember falling asleep this time either. When he wakes up, he feels back to normal. His head is clear, his stomach full of food, and he breathes out a long sigh.

“Feeling better?” Sidon asks.

Link nods. He didn’t think talking wore him out this badly -- but then again, he’s never had a traveling companion before. Not like this.

“Did you sleep?”

“A little,” Sidon replies. “Traveling by water tends to help Zora rejuvenate, rather than wear us out.” He smiles at Link. “You _do_ look refreshed, my friend. Just as bright as the sun.”

Smiling, Link does the sign Sidon had made for _Thank you_ again.

“You are most welcome,” the Zora replies with a small bow of his considerable head.

Link stands and dusts his clothes off. They still have hours of daylight left. Stomping the fire out with his boot, he looks out towards the coast. 

“Ready to go?” Sidon asks, watching him.

Link nods. He goes over to their items, still lined up against the red cliff, and starts loading himself up. His metal shield is heavy but he might need it further up the beach. And if not there, then in the desert for sure. 

Last, he picks up Sidon’s spear

Link holds the silver shaft in his hands. He’s always liked using a spear; they make for good long-range attacks. Sidon’s is white and embroidered with gems the same colour he usually wears on his ornamental plating. Sapphire, he thinks. The armour Link had asked Sophie to make for him matches too. 

He picks it up, finally, and gives it to Sidon. 

The Zora slips it onto his back with a smile. “Thank you.”

Nodding, Link turns on his heels and leads them on.

It only takes them twenty minutes of walking to round the cliffs, and then the red rock clears away, the Faron Sea coming completely into view.

A tiny gasp escapes the Zora’s mouth.

Link can’t help but stop and turn to grin up at him.

“Oh gods of the _sea._ " 

The sand is bleached near-white and the red rock cliffs outlining the coast stand out loudly. There are palm trees dotted randomly on the beach, their leaves darker than any other flora in Hyrule. It’s always been stunning to Link, going from the flush green grasslands to this tropical red-on-white coast. 

He’d always liked the red. 

Sidon’s hands are over his mouth, staring in awe at the sea. Link’s sure the Zora has seen the Lanayru coast before, he must have, it’s only half a day east from the Domain. But Faron is brighter, wider, more open and… far away from the palace. Something Sidon’s never seen before.

Link remembers what Sidon had said. About wanting to see more of Hyrule. If that’s what the Zora wants, Link will do his best.

Grinning, he points at the water, touching Sidon on his lower back.

 _Want to go in?_ He tries to say with the gesture.

“Yes!” The Zora grips both of his hands into fists, posture excited and eyes wide. “And _you_ are coming with me.”

Feeling like nothing more than a sack of potatoes, Link is lifted off of the sand and set securely on top of large red shoulders.

And then Sidon is _running_.

The blond laughs because he can’t help it, dropping his sword, shield, bow, and quiver onto the sand as they go.

Link flies forwards off of Sidon’s shoulders when the Zora tumbles into the ocean. He soars through the air for a second, skids upside down across the water, and then plunges below.

He swallows salty water, coughing and laughing as he comes up. 

Link swipes his hair out of his face, treading in water well over his head. He’s expecting to be eye to eye with the Zora. But Sidon is nowhere to be found. The sea is still and quiet. 

Link listens hard, scanning the sea in a circle, but there’s no hint of him. 

He can hear the rumbling water before he can see it, and he can see the dark mass beneath the surface before Sidon comes up. But the Zora is too fast for Link to do anything about it.

Sidon surges up like erupting lava from an undersea volcano. Teeth gleaming in a grin, his full body flies high in the air, pushing himself from the depths into the bright sunlit air.

He crashes back down into the sea with the full side of his body, grin disappearing under the waterline in a splash. He’d landed only feet away from the blond. Link is shrouded in the dark shadow of the resulting tidal wave for a moment – frozen, surrounded by a wall of mounting water. 

And then it drops over him while Sidon roars with laughter.

Link comes up caughing again, his nasal passages full of stinging salt.

“Oh my friend,” Sidon says, his eyes wide with excitement, “You look like a drowned bokoblin.”

Link moves his hair out of his face, and gives Sidon a wry glare.

“Alright,” Sidon says, laughter threatening to bubble over again, “You are much prettier than a bokoblin. But you still look completely drowned.”

The blond feigns benign acceptance of the half-compliment. 

And then in a rush Link sends out a surprise attack. With a great push of his hands he shoves a wave of water straight into the Zora’s face.

Sidon sputters as water rolls down the crest of his head, down his cheeks and into his mouth. He wipes his eyes clear a few times and then locks them onto Link, teeth gleaming in a giant, shark-like grin. “You have betrayed me! The Hero of Hyrule himself!” Sidon falls back into the water dramatically. “How shall I _ever_ recover?” he laments, letting himself begin to sink.

He disappears again, but this time Link can still see his red body, just underneath the clear blue-green surface. With a small smile, Link watches as the Zora does a large flip underwater, probably unable to help it. The river had been too shallow for anything like that.

Link watches him surge out further into the sea, shooting off like a giant red arrow. Way out in the endless space of the ocean, Sidon flies up out of the water and into a curved, arching dive. He slips back under in a seamless stream. He pops up again, doing a flip that looks easy but has to take a lot of muscles to work. 

Even way out there, Link can hear Sidon laughing. It’s baritone but bright all at once. 

After a few more aerial maneuvers, the Zora swims back over, his headtail and crest the only parts of him sticking out of the water.

Link readies himself for another attack, but Sidon stops in front of him instead, grinning from ear to ear, sunk to his teeth into the sea. 

“Having fun?” Link asks, looking down at him.

Sidon lifts himself up, wide shoulders emerging slowly. Salt water steams down his neck. 

They are nearly face-to-face then, floating in the water, nothing around but glittering aqua and spilling sunlight. 

Sharp teeth show proudly as Sidon grins wider than what most Hylains might find attractive. The rows of thick, angular, razored teeth should probably be frightening. Especially because he has seen what the Zora can do with them.

But Link can’t stop staring. 

He lets himself sink down into the water, dipping his chin under. 

“‘Fun’ does not do my heart justice!” Sidon exclaims, nearly shouting. “The water is so _warm_ , Link. The Lanayru Sea is frigid, though I do not mind cold waters. And these tall trees...”

“Palms.”

“These tall _palms_ , I have never seen such an odd plant. And the red cliffs! Oh I knew Hyrule was beautiful, but I did not know what beauty it truly held. And there is so much space here! Lanayru is full of rocks, very dangerous for diving. Yet here there is _nothing_ but water. I could swim in a straight line for days. I could dive off of any height and I’d never reach the bottom.” Sidon moves in closer. “Thank you for– _Thank_ you.”

Link lifts his chin out of the water, meaning to speak, but nothing comes. Even though they’re closer in height like this, Sidon is still… big. He feels like he’s being swallowed by his size and his gratitude.  
  
He swallows, and his tongue tastes like salt.

“No problem,” Link manages eventually. When he looks up Sidon is watching his mouth. His breath leaves him. Neck-deep in the cool sea, Link feels hot. “I…” he tries, still watching yellow eyes stuck on his lips. He doesn’t know what to do with them, feels awkward in a way he doesn’t usually. 

“Sidon.”

“Hm?” Finally, the Zora looks back up at his eyes. No hint of embarrassment on his face. Only a small smile. “Yes?”

Link breathes out slowly through his nose. 

“You don’t need to thank me all the time.”

“But I _am_ thankful.”

He stares back and forth between yellow eyes. In the bright sun they’re more pale-yellow than the dark honey they shift to in moonlight. 

Link had been losing his mind stuck at home in Hateno Village. He had felt like a tool past its prime, a ready-to-fire arrow with no target, and no archer to aim him. 

And… like a freak.

What kind of person wishes for calamity? What kind of hero is depressed once the villain is vanquished? Link doesn’t want people to get hurt, but he’d wanted something to do. Some way to feel useful again.

Although he opens his mouth, Link isn’t able to get any of that to come out. He shuts it. With a hand held above the water, he gestures towards himself. Then he opens his palm flat, keeping it in the middle of his own face and Sidon’s.

“Me too,” Link says, then drops his hand back underwater. 

“You too?”

Link nods. He tries to speak again. Tries to think through the fog between his brain and his tongue. This is always so impossible for him, just talking, simple language, _why can’t he–_

“Don’t look like that, my dear friend,” Sidon says. A clawed red hand reaches out for him, water shifting gently with the movement. The Zora stops before he makes contact, stops like he hadn’t realized what he was doing, hadn’t thought about it. 

Link looks at the blue opaque claws. The large joints of his fingers, the deep curves of his palm, the way his palm is white but those long fingers are red, the perfect point each claw comes to.

He has felt those claws on his skin.

Sidon’s hand begins to drop, but Link grabs it before it falls away. 

He pulls it close. He pulls it all the way to his cheek, gliding it across his face, leaning into it and closing his eyes.

“Link,” Sidon says, clear surprise in the way he’d said his name.

He grips the hand tighter with both of his. Sidon doesn’t say anything else, and Link doesn’t open his eyes to look. He wants the Zora to know one thing without a doubt.

Link wants him here.

After a moment, he lets go. 

When he opens his eyes, Sidon only looks worried.

“Are you… Link, are you tiring? Would you like to rest on my back? We have been in deep water for well over an hour, now.”

Link doesn’t fight it. He nods with a small smile. And the next thing he knows, Sidon is gone.

He stays underwater longer than Link thinks is necessary. Then the Zora comes up, his back hitting the surface first; Link feels warmth on his feet and then his legs, forcing him into a sitting position on his spine. Sidon lies flush against the surface of the sea, creating a perfect Zora-raft. 

“You can lie down, if you want. I am happy just to swim.”

Again, he doesn’t argue. Link lies down, pressing his back along Sidon’s own, looking up at the bright blue sky. Sidon moves closer to the surface and Link is lifted completely free of the water. Only one foot, which he lets fall down over his ribs, drags inside the warm sea. 

He sighs, a faint content sound.

Sidon swims slowly, not saying a word.

A gentle breeze sweeps across Link’s warm skin and wet clothes. The summer air smells sweet like pollen and carries the fresh scent of salt. There is the sound of wind over an endless ocean, slow waves crashing along the distant shoreline… and of gentle breathing through strong gills. Pressed under his back is a large, warm body. Link spreads his hands out flat. Heat radiates off Sidon like hot volcanic rock.

It's the gills, in the end, that lull Link to sleep for the third time that afternoon. 

\---

Sidon feels warm. The sun is beating down directly on his body, the water is heated so close inland. The spot on his back that Link takes up feels the warmest of all. His stomach is knotted, but not unpleasantly. 

He swims slowly through the water. At some point Link falls asleep; Sidon can tell by his breathing, how it slows and the breaths get longer, how he stops moving his head to scan the sky.

His heart is fluttering, some light, wisped feeling taking up Sidon’s entire body. 

Link had taken his hand, brought it in close and held it, pressed his warm cheek against Sidon's palm. Link had laughed on his shoulders while Sidon ran full-tilt into the sea. Link had splashed him directly in the face, his grin wicked. Link had pulled that great elk to a stop in front of Sidon, offering his hand. Link brought him all the way from Lanayru to this beach.

Sidon is happy. He’s happy in a way he doesn't think he's ever felt before.

After an hour of gentle swimming, he heads back to shore. 

Sidon lifts Link onto his back as he reaches the beach, using the shallower waters to maneuver him. A blond head falls soundly onto his shoulder, just behind one of his fins, and warm breath sends air skirting across red skin. 

He carries Link out towards the cliffs, and sets him down against one of those palms, making sure he’s under the shade. The blond never seems to have any trouble with it, but Sidon has heard that Hylians can burn in the sun.

Sitting on his knees, Sidon moves golden hair aside, simply to get it out of Link’s face while he rests. 

It's soft to the touch. He had not expected that. When he’d fingered the burnt ends of it in the shrine it had been rough and brittle.

So used to a sturdy headtail, the strands of silk feel unreal. 

Link's skin is softer than any Zora's; Sidon knows from rubbing salve into all those cuts and gashes. Save for his calloused hands and perhaps the scars (though they have a rough smoothness Sidon can’t compare to anything else), his skin is remarkably soft. Just like his hair.

Zora skin is more smooth, made for fast travel by water. The Hylian has these small hairs everywhere.

His hands are clawless. His legs are longer than any Zora's. And those ears...

When he had held Sidon's hand in close, Sidon had felt his ear, just at his fingertips. How... _strange_ it felt. Rubbery, cooler at the very end. There are holes through the thicker parts near the bottom. Sidon has seen Link wear jewelry in his ears, though they have been empty during their journey thus far.

He wonders if it's wrong, somehow, to be fascinated by the Hylian's physical differences. The ears especially distract Sidon often. And the colour of his eyes.

Sidon leaves him in want of some large, warm rocks. Clearly the Hylian needs his rest. And he does not think it polite to stare any longer.

* * *

For the third time that afternoon, Link wakes up. His vision is blurred as he blinks blearily, but he can see he’s still at the coast. He flexes his fingers, expecting a warm smooth back underneath. He’s met with fistfulls of sand instead.

Rubbing at his foggy eyes, he blinks a few more times, and realizes he’s sitting on the beach. His back is resting against a palm tree.

The sun had fallen down behind the red cliffs, and Link is sat resting under their shade. It must be late in the afternoon, maybe early evening. 

After rubbing his eyes, he scans the sandy shoreline and blue water for red.

Link spots Sidon lying sprawled on his back on a group of large, flat rocks. He’s only about ten meters away, near the water. 

Sitting up straight, Link stretches his arms over his head with a groan. His back and shoulders are tight, sore from day after day of riding.

The sun hits his back as Link leaves the shade of the cliffs, making his way towards Sidon.

The Zora is lying on his back, extended to his full length on the flat rocks. His eyes are closed. He’s not wearing anything, his new traveling armor piled neatly on the rocks next to him. This isn’t meaningful, Link reminds himself. Zora don’t wear a lot of clothing in general.

Link watches as Sidon stretches. He arches his back, his abdomen pulling tight and then lax as he lets out a sigh through his gills, one heavy with bliss. There’s a soft growl inside that sigh. The Zora shifts slightly and Link looks down his legs, relatively shorter than a Hylian’s; up his pelvis and his stomach, white and smooth; his broad chest expanding; his arms, both lying out lazily at his sides. 

All of him is drowned in coral sunlight as Sidon sighs again, stretched out, basking on warm rocks in the afternoon sun.

Swallowing, Link feels a bead of sweat run down his throat. 

“Sidon,” he says, standing near the Zora’s head.

Yellow eyes pop open, and rows of sharp teeth grin at him. “Link! Did you have a good rest?” The blond nods; he wants to apologize for falling asleep while he’s technically on duty, but Sidon continues, “I have been enjoying these rocks _immensely_. I wish the sun reached these temperatures in the Domain. Every Zora needs to feel hot rocks upon their backs. This is _wonderful_.”

“You look… in your element,” Link says, raising his brow. It’s true. Sidon looks like he belongs on those rocks, soaking up tropical sunlight. 

Or maybe Link’s just being selfish.

The Zora hums happily, and then shuts his eyes, going back to enjoying his basking.

Link says, “Sidon.”

One yellow eye cracks open. “Yes?”

“At night, this…” They don’t have signs made up for ‘stalkoblins’ or ‘stalmoblins’ both of which may show up here in groups at night. But Link has had a long break from talking, and three naps today. He can do this. “There are monsters here at night. We need to head back to the fire. Some might show up there, too, but they’ll be… They should be weak.”

\---

They head back up towards the grasslands again, gathering their discarded armor and weapons as they make their way up the beach.

Just before they leave the coast completely, Sidon asks a question.

“What are those fruits?”

Link follows his line of sight to the tops of the palm trees.

“Palm fruit,” he says. “Do you want to try one?”

“Certainly! But how would we–”

Wordless, he leaves Sidon’s side and starts climbing the narrow trunk of the palm tree. 

“Ah. Of course.”

Link slides back down, yellow fruit in hand, and gives it to Sidon. The Zora cuts it in half with his claws, giving one half back to Link.

The blond waits while Sidon tries the fruit. He sees a quick flash of a blue tongue, long and narrow at the tip.

Link does their sign for ‘good,’ looking up at the Zora with a raised brow.

“Delicious! It’s very sweet. Have you–”

Link pulls out his bow, turning, and shoots off three consecutive arrows. The palm fruits plop to the sandy ground one after another. He runs over, gathers them in his arms, and runs back to Sidon.

“I can cook something with these,” Link says by way of explanation, his arms full of fruit.

Sidon’s expression can only be called fond. 

* * *

Back at their campsite, Link is standing over the fire, stirring palm fruits with freshly caught bass. He rubs at his shoulders and back every few minutes. Still sore. It’ll be a few days before his muscles unknot. But the hike through the desert they have coming up should help. It won't hurt his shoulders, at least. 

Sidon is sitting beside the fire, admiring the jewels inlaid on the armor Sohpie had made. He thinks back to that collection of gems Sidon had in his room at the palace. It’s… nice to know that he likes gems. Link fingers at one of his ear lobes.

A rustling in the sparse trees snaps his head to attention. A stalmoblin pops out of the ground, only one. They’re never stealthy or quiet about it. Link drops the stick he’d been cookin with, pulls out his bow, aims, and pierces it directly through its skull. 

The beast vanishes in a cloud of smoke.

He slips his bow onto his back, and returns to cooking.

“You are very good with that bow,” Sidons says, staring at him. 

Link tilts his head.

“I suppose that should be expected. Yet it is remarkable all the same. How did you learn?”

“Can’t remember.”

“Oh… yes. My apologies.”

Link shakes his head. Sometimes, his forgotten past feels like someone else's life all together.

“Do you want to learn?”

“Hm?”

“How to shoot.”

Sidon’s eyes practically glow, and that’s answer enough for Link. 

They eat first. Sidon tells him, not for the first time on their journey, that he is an exceptionally good cook. Link replies that he’s had a lot of time to practice.

“I’m afraid all I know how to cook is fish.”

Link swallows a mouth full of food. “You make good fish,” he says.

“That is kind of you to say.”

There is the question of where Link is going to get a bow big enough for Sidon to use. He can’t use any of Link’s. He’d break the string on the first nock. 

“My mother, apparently, was a grand cook.”

Oh! There is a lynel out near Harfin Pond. It stalks the north bank, and always carries a bow. One big enough for a Zora.

…

Wait.

“Your mother?” Link asks, the words registering late.

“Yes. I don’t remember her well. She died when I was very small. My father doesn’t like to talk about it, but I believe she was sick.” Large hands play with the skewered meal of fish and chunks of seared fruit. “I heard from palace attendants and guards my whole childhood how great of a cook she was. I believe they knew I wanted to know about her, but it was too hard for my father to speak of. So they told the small prince these tiny details.” 

Link had never thought about Sidon’s mother or where she might be. King Dorephan had never mentioned her, and there’s no trace of her in the palace.

“I have not inherited any of her culinary genius. But, you know–” A small smile slips over the Zora’s mouth, “I also heard she enjoyed gems a great deal. And I was told this well into my adulthood. It has always been the one thing I know I share with her.” Sidon looks off into the trees, their leaves nearly blue in the dark moonlight. “The only thing that connects me to her.” 

There are things Link wants to say. How he can relate because this past he can’t remember includes his parents; how he has no connection to it other than snapshots of memories and Zelda’s voice and a fondness for friends his heart knows although his head doesn’t. The uncanny disconnect and the faint feeling of rebirth, of being different from who he was a hundred years ago, but in some ways the same.

Instead, he only stares with his mouth open, expression twisted weirdly.

“Oh, Link. I am sorry. I’m only feeling wistful. You don’t need to say anything. I have long dealt with my feelings about my mother.”

Link shakes his head. He sets his food down. 

He stands up, wanting to be nearer in height; and also wanting to be respectful. “I never…” Too many thoughts ball up in his head and what comes out feels unrelated but he knows it isn’t, not at all. “I never apologized about your sister.”

Sidon’s mouth stops mid-bite, and his slitted pupils shift. “What?”

Words pour from him then, regret overflowing, drowning out any anxiety that normally restricts his mouth. “I don’t remember what happened, but they all died. And if I’m Hylia’s Light, or this _hero_ I’m supposed to be, then I let them down. I failed. And I am… Your sister...” 

Sidon cuts him off, expression still full of surprise. “I am quite sure we’ve talked about this. You have nothing to apologise for. You freed her spirit.” 

“I put her there.”

“You did not. _Ganon_ did.”

“It was _my_ job–”

A large red hand reaches out, grabbing Link’s arm, and the touch cuts him short. Sidon looks at him sadly.

“Link,” he starts, his white lips drawn down, “I know that many Zora did, but I never blamed you. I didn’t know it _was_ you when we met, but regardless of that…” 

Sidon lifts the hand away from Link’s arm, and sets both of his hands in his lap, his food forgotten. 

“My sister made the choice to fight for the world. She knew she might die. And it does not mean I do not miss her, or wish she was still here. But she made her own decision. Not you, not I, not my father. None of us who blame ourselves for her death.” Sidon is looking up at the sky now, though it is clouded over and starless. “Mipha was a strong Zora. She helped you defeat Ganon. She would not want us to pity her. And so I do not.”

“Sidon…” 

His eyes are wet. Link can see them shine in the firelight.

“I am sorry,” Sidon says, wiping at the tears before they fall, dropping his face from the sky. “I _do_ miss her, Link, but please. You must not blame yourself.” 

“It was my job to keep them all safe.”

“Ganon took everything.” Wiping a few more tears away with the sides of his hands, Sidon looks directly at him now. His yellow eyes mix with orange light; his slitted pupils are blown. “You forget your past, your own family, your whole life, and… He took that from you, the same as he took Mipha from us.”

“But…”

“Link,” Sidon cuts him off. “Your noble heroism is one of your best charms, I will tell you this until the day we die.” The Zora looks away, south towards the red cliffs beside them. His words are wobbling with emotion, and his mouth is curved up into a smile, a sad one that Link watches with a heavy heart. “But should you continue to blame yourself for what you cannot control, I will have no choice but to bring you to _that_ cliff,” Sidon points to a high red peak, “and drop you into the Faron Sea. At least until the salt water washes the inside of your head clean of all of this misplaced guilt.”

Link opens his mouth, and then he shuts it.

Sidon wipes the last of his tears away. “It is not fair that she is dead. I miss her dearly. I often think of what life would be like if she were at the palace with my father and I. I worried myself sick when she was trapped in Vah Ruta. 

“But… Blaming ourselves takes all agency from her. I could not be more proud of my sister for what she did. For what she decided to do because she knew it was the right thing. For not letting fear control her.” 

Link feels very small, next to all of that. He’d been blaming himself for all the champions’ deaths from the start. Ever since he learned about, and began to remember, their shared pasts. And Mipha’s was hardest of all, because she had loved him, because her father had trusted him, because she was so selfless.  
  
At least Revali was a bit of an asshole, so Link could pretend it didn’t hurt as much.

“Link,” Sidon says, and his large hand is on Link’s upper arm again, taking up part of his shoulder too. “As I have told you a hundred times before, I am eternally grateful to you for freeing her.” He grins, all teeth, eyes only slightly damp now. “ _And_ slaying Ganon. Especially slaying Ganon. Because _he_ was the bastard who killed my sister.” 

Link’s brow disappears into his fringe. He’s never heard Sidon curse. 

His surprised expression is met with a playful smile.

Breathing out a soft sigh through his nose, Link sets his hand over the red one on his arm. What could he say to all of that? He’ll never stop blaming himself; he didn’t deserve this sort of grace from Mipha and he definitely doesn’t deserve it from her father and brother.

“I’m still sorry.”

“I accept your feelings, but I do _not_ accept your apology.” Sidon stands up. As he moves he slips his hand around Link’s, holding on. “Now, some stubborn Hylian promised to teach me how to use a bow. I am unsure he is up for the daunting task. I don’t think he knows how clumsy most Zora are with a bowstring.”

Sidon holds up his free hand, showing his claws.

Link, still feeling uneasy, stands up as well.

* * *

Offering no explanation as to why, the Hylian leads Sidon around a grassy hill to a small clearing. 

“Wait here,” Link says, looking sternly up at him. “I mean it. Don’t move.”

Sidon nods. “But where…?”

Link is already gone, running down the grassy knoll towards…

Sidon’s breath leaves his gills in a rush. 

A mountainous lynel is pacing the clearing, a heavy sword on its back and, of course, a large bow gripped in its hands.

_Oh gods of the sea..._

Link is holding a wooden weapon, one he took from a bokoblin earlier that afternoon and he lights it on fire with some flint on his way down the hill. Once it’s lit Sidon watches him pull out his shield and jump on top of it. The Hylian rides the shield down the grass, hair whipping in the resulting wind, fire blazing close to his cheeks.

When Link reaches the bottom, the shield shatters. He doesn't seem bothered by this. Leaping away from exploding shards of metal, he breaks into a run, heading resolutely towards the beast.

As he runs, Link holds the fiery weapon near the ground. The grass begins to blaze, orange and red flames swarming him until the Hylian is nothing more than a speck amidst a sea of fire.

This, of course, gets the lynel’s attention.

This _also_ makes Sidon’s knees weak, and he leans against the tree next to him.

Fire-lit bokoblin club clutched in one hand, shirtless and surrounded by flames, Link charges at the lynel. 

Sidon watches with baited breath as the blond performs some precarious dodging, as he skips around the fire surrounding him, as he grabs the lynel by one horn and beats it mercilessly in the face with the burning bokoblin club.

This Hylian… _this_ Hylian is…

Next, Link climbs a tree. Hanging from one hand, he tosses a number of bombs at the lynel. These hit their mark, but thanks to the fire on the field the beast now has the means to light its arrows on fire, and the tree Link is in is ablaze in seconds.

Sidon almost starts running down the hill. Surely he is in danger. And even if he is _not_ , Sidon doesn’t think he can stand by and watch this. 

But Link leaps from the tree. Mid air, he aims one final shot right between its eyes, and the beast drops dead amidst a field of fire.

Still in the air Link pulls out his glider and soars across the field, bare toes surely burning. He lands just on the outskirts of the flames. Sidon hears him shout in pain. He had not quite cleared the fire. Once the flames burn themselves out, he runs over and claims the lynel’s bow.

Link runs back up the hill, bow in hand, hair singed, skin red, and grinning from ear to ear. He is bleeding from cuts on his arms. He is shirtless and he was on fire and he seems so perfectly _happy_ about it all.

“Got it,” Link says once he’s come to a stop, panting hard. He rubs at his shoulders. Had he hurt them, too?

Sidon raises his hands, not sure where to start. “Oh _Link_.”

 _What?_ he asks with a tilt of his head.

“All of that for a bow?”

Link looks down at the bow in his hand, and then back up at Sidon. 

“Your hair is singed, again. You’ve burned your feet. Why did you do this without any boots on, at least?”

Link shrugs. He does the sign for _lynel_ : his pinky and index finger held up like horns, followed by their sign for _easy_ : a flat hand with spread fingers.

“They are _not_ easy.” Sidon reaches down, touching the burnt parts of his golden hair. “I do not know if I am more amazed or horrified.”

Link grins up at him, and this one is his chaotic grin, the one that comes out whenever he faces combat. This grin, Sidon knows, is a result of his kinesthetic nature.

“You’re amazed,” Link says, his tone ticking up with a cockiness he shows on occasion. Sidon’s hand is still in his hair, close to his cheek, close to his pointed ear. “I know it.”

Heat blooms inside the Zora’s chest and unfurls like warm smoke all the way down to his toes. Blue eyes, alight with fire, seem to burn straight through him.

Sidon drops his hand, confused, and then breathes out through his gills. 

“You _are_ very impressive, I must admit.”

Still grinning, Link brings both of his arms up into a flex.

Unable to help it, Sidon laughs.

* * *

“Pull your arm back. Yeah, like that. And you line the shot up with both eyes open. The wind will make it drift…”

Sidon tries his best to hold the bow steady, but his claws make it difficult. This is the main reason Zora do not use bows very often. It takes skill to wield them without snapping the string.

Link is standing on a tall rock. He’s behind Sidon, who is on the ground. Link’s chest is pressed into his upper back, his arms slung up over Sidon’s shoulders, and lying on top of Sidon’s own arms, so the Hylian can guide his movement. It isn’t perfect -- Link can’t reach his hands -- but it works well enough.

Sidon’s heart is racing. Is holding a bow for the first time really so nerve wracking? He’d thought himself more resilient than this.

“What do you want to aim for?” Link’s breath is warm against his left headfin, some of it slipping underneath and along his neck.

“Oh.” Sidon shivers. The sun is long gone by now, and it’s a fairly cool night. “Anything at all,” he says.

“Alright.” 

Sidon shivers again.

“Cold?”

“No, I am fine.” 

Link takes a minute to find them a target. “How about that?” he asks, shifting Sidon’s whole upper body with his arms and chest. 

“The apples?”

“Maybe just the branch, for your first time.”

Had Link’s voice always sounded so… clear? Surely his body has always been this warm. Sidon knows that.

Link’s head comes to rest on his shoulder, tilting it to better line their gazes. “Ready?” 

Sidon nods, and Link moves his arms to set the shot up. “Wind’s coming in from the west, so we aim a little east – the branch is high so the shot needs to arc, so we aim a little up and… there. Let go.”

Heart absolutely trilling, Sidon releases the bowstring. It vibrates the weapon in his hands as he watches the arrow soar through the sky.

It hits the tree branch with a dull _twack!_ , and tumbles down uselessly to the ground.

Link smiles from behind him, making a happy, cheerful noise. 

Sidon waits for his heart to stop pounding now that he’s let the arrow go, but it does not.

* * *

After they shoot a few more arrows, Sidon suggests they call it a night. While he is not in a hurry to arrive at Gerudo Town, he knows they both need the rest. And he… 

He feels… strange.

Perhaps homesick. He hasn’t been gone from the Domain for more than an afternoon since he was a very young child. It’s been at least ten days since he’d been home.

On their trek back to their camp, Link rubs at his shoulders, his face twisted in discomfort. He had been doing so since they left Lake Hylia.

“Are you sore?” Sidon asks once they’re back at the fire.

Dropping his hands from his shoulders, Link says, “It’s knots from riding. They go away after a few days.”

Sidon frowns. “We have a desert to cross tomorrow, do we not?”

Link nods.

“Sit down.”

_What?_

Sidon points to the wooden box Link had pushed near the fire earlier and repeats himself. “Sit down, you foolish yet amazing Hylian. I’m going to work those knots out.”

Link makes a confused, strangled noise from his throat.

“You are in no place to argue after nearly lighting yourself on fire.” Sidon folds his arms. “Sit.”

Link doesn’t argue past that. He climbs onto the box, sitting with his legs hanging over the front. Sidon pushes it closer to the fire. Then he sits on the grass behind the box. With Link propped up, Sidon is as the perfect height to reach his back and shoulders.

Before he starts, Sidon rubs the remainder of their salve into Link’s newest cuts, letting them dry in the heat of firelight. 

“You have a great deal of scars,” he says, though this isn’t the first time he’d noticed. 

Link nods.

“When you feel like talking, I would love to know the story behind them – _if_ you are able to recall the undoubtedly numerous events that lead to them all.” He laughs lightly.

Link cranes his neck around to narrow his eyes at him.

Smiling, Sidon sets a hand on the top of a golden head, forcing Link to turn towards the fire again. “You can’t be upset with me. _I_ haven’t jumped into unnecessary danger.”

“Do the Zora know their prince has a snarky side?”

Sidon grins, setting his hands on Link’s shoulders. He presses in with his thumbs, careful not to use too much strength. He can feel the knots immediately. “Do the Hylians know their Hero of Light does battle shirtless and on fire?”

“Zelda knows.”

“I am certain she is thrilled about it.”

“...” Link falls silent.

Sidon works his way around the knots near the base of his neck. He presses in harder, and one of them cracks.

“ _Ah_ ,” Link says through a shocked gasp.

“Sorry. Did it hurt?”

Link shakes his head. _Good_ , he signs, rubbing at his neck with his free hand.

Sidon continues on, massaging the knots out of his neck, then moving to his shoulders. The moment he presses in and rolls his fingers around the knots here, Link groans, loud and unabashed. Sidon does so again, this time slower, trying to work the muscles flat. He’s surprised at how much pressure Link can take. But, perhaps, he should not be.

The golden head under him drops forward, and Sidon presses his thumbs in under where he thinks Link’s dorsi muscles start. These are long on a Zora, and often what becomes sore from standing or sitting up straight too long. The guards in the palace are given regular massages for exactly this reason. 

Sidon pushes in and around the place just beneath his armpit, feeling the muscles roll and flex with him, and finds knots there as well.

“Link, you are much too tight,” he says, working his fingers in. 

Link is unresponsive. 

Sidon bites at his bottom lip in concentration. He rolls the side of one hand hard against his shoulder blade, pushing muscle around, and then finds another knot beneath this. He digs his fingers in and under, careful of his claws. Once he has it, Sidon presses his thumbs in as far as he can and pushes just under the knot, slowly slipping his fingers around and over it, gliding hard across soft skin full of scars both old and new.

A quiet groan slips from Link’s mouth. The Hylian’s back arcs, only slightly. 

“Sidon.”

“Did that hurt?”

Link runs a hand through his hair.

“...No.”

Link doesn't say anything further. He remains on the box, bare back exposed to the night around them. Sidon knows this is an affirmation to continue; he speaks with his actions far more than with his words.

Perhaps Hylians are unaccustomed to massages? They are common in the Domain. Zora in general experience a great deal of growing pains throughout their lives; massages are a frequent remedy.

He slides his hands lower on Link’s back. He has to be careful of the large gash he’d gotten the day he showed up at the palace. From a lizalfo, Link had said. There is a smattering of scars, both above and below this wound, like a hundred shooting stars striking across peach skin. 

Sidon runs his fingers up his spine next, feeling lightly for any small knots there. His claws scrape across his skin, which he hadn’t meant to do, but he is sure they don’t scratch.

Link shivers visibly.

“Are you cold?” Sidon asks, trying to see his face but it’s hidden, his head still bent forward. “I can move you closer to the fire”

“...No.”

Sidon touches further down his back, eyes focused on scarred skin. “I don’t mind,” he replies while he continues to work.

“Not cold.”

Sure enough Link’s body is warm to the touch, and their fire is still burning strong, so he doesn’t press the issue. 

Sidon pushes in, starting at the base of his spine, and digs his thumbs in all the way up to his neck in one long push. Tiny knots crackle as he goes. Link arches, his back turning convex with the path of Sidon’s hands.

“Even your spine is tight, my friend. Do Hylians not get regular massages?”

After a few shallow breaths, Link shakes his head.

Sidon presses his thumbs back in, moving down his spine this time. 

“You really ought to. Especially you.”

Sidon goes up and down his spine one last time, and then leaves his hands on Link’s lower back. He digs his fingers into the muscles just above Link’s shorts, where his hips start. These are just as tight. Sidon works on them until his arms start to tire; Link’s muscles are built from constant travel, repetitive combat, and it shows under his hands.

He moves back up to the place where his neck meets his shoulders, gliding up his spine again for good measure. Sidon rolls the knots along his neck, slowly dragging across warm skin; Link’s neck lulls to each opposite side as he pushes at the knots. One slips away from beneath his fingers. Sidon pushes in with his thumbs instead, feeling around for it once more.

This leaves his fingers resting on Link’s neck, nowhere else to place them while he searches with his thumbs. When Sidon finds the knot again he pushes in gradually. It moves away and he changes directions with his thumbs, forcing the knot still so he can work over it. Finally, he presses around the twisted-up ball of muscle, hearing it snap as it untangles.

“ _Ah_ -”

Sidon’s hands freeze.

Link seems to, as well. His back goes rigid.

The tips of his claws are on Link’s throat. Had they dragged down it? Sidon moves his hands away. Did he hurt him? There are no marks.

“Link?” he asks when the Hylian stands up suddenly.

Offering nothing but a headshake, Link walks away from their camp, heading towards the stream of water that leads down to the beach.

Sidon can’t look away, his heart is ringing in his ears. His blood seems to be rushing all over. 

Surely... he misheard that. It was probably just the same as all the other appreciative groaning Link had been doing. Sidon had misheard it, and then made it weird by gasping and taking his hands away. 

Sighing, he looks back over at Link, who is standing near the stream. Is he washing himself? They _had_ spent the day in the ocean, and he’d fought a lynel only a few hours ago.

Sidon can apologize. It will be fine. Link is a laid back person. He will likely forgive Sidon for this awkward blunder.

The Hylian is peeling his shorts off, kicking them lazily onto the grass. Sidon gets an eyeful of his lower half, though it is shrouded under the night sky.

Warmth rushes to his face and he’s sure he’s entirely blue. Nudity means very little to Zora, partially because their genitalia remain _inside_ of them most of the time. Apparently this is not the case for Hylians.

And… he only has _one_.

Sidon hadn’t _meant_ to look. Bathing was done publicly in the Domain. They had open baths on the second floor of the palace. 

He buries his face in his hands, wishing the night sky would swallow him whole.

\---

Running a hand through his hair, Link is sure to pull hard. The water is cold but not really cold enough. He tries walking around, tries thinking about bokoblins and the dogs that he visits at the stables and mundane things like cleaning and drying paint. He goes all the way under the water, holding his breath and waiting for as long as he can.

It only half works.

Link breaks the surface, and he still feels… hot.

Way too hot.

He’d never had someone massage his back before. He didn’t know it would feel… that he’d feel it so much. He should’ve told Sidon to stop but his big hands on his skin, those claws scraping every once in a while, the way he’d gone up and down and up and down his spine that forced Link’s back into an arch and forced the breath out of him and… He couldn’t bring himself to talk. He could barely think.

He’d thought... he’d assumed Sidon knew what he was doing.

But…

The surprised way he’d stopped after Link had practically keened made it clear that he hadn’t.

And so.

Here he is, in this cool stream of water, feeling hot and dizzy and like he’s floating. The salt on his skin drips slowly off of him, and he can still feel the sun lingering from their afternoon on the beach. He can feel Sidon all over him: fully pressed into his back, between his thighs where he’d been for five days, those hands and claws at his skin, gliding around muscles Link had no _idea_ could feel so...

“Stop,” he says to himself, staring down placidly at his dick. Which doesn’t return the expression.

If Sidon didn’t know, then Link needed to stop. Now.

He closes his eyes and runs a hand through his hair again. 

But all he sees is Sidon sprawled out on his back on those flat hot rocks, red and white skin shining bright, basking under the midday sun. All he sees are those sharp teeth. Yellow eyes, pale in broad daylight and shifting to the colour of fresh honey under moonlight. The pretty aquamarine-and-yellow fins that flare around his shoulders and elbows and hips. 

All he sees is Sidon holding him tight after the octorok ambush. Sidon offering to use signs with him. Sidon humming happily to himself as they drift down the river. The soft way he sighs through his gills. Surging up from the depths of the sea only to crash into the water just to soak Link and laugh at him and how Link had laughed back and how he’d taken his hand, pulled it into the side of his face, how–

Link opens his eyes, heart racing.

He looks up at the clouded night sky, and breathlessly he says, “Fuck.”

\---

When Sidon sees Link making his way back up towards their campsite -- shorts back on -- he steels his resolve. He will not let some small misunderstanding ruin their friendship. Especially not after everything they’ve been through together as of late.

\---

“Link.”

Sidon stands up when he gets back, eyes full of honest worry. 

Link had managed to calm himself down after standing in that stream for nearly half an hour. 

He tries to talk, to get anything out, to tell Sidon it’s alright, but he’s not fast enough.

“I did not mean to make things strange. Massages are very common for Zora. We spend much of our life with growing pains. Please accept my most sincere apology.”

Link looks up at the Zora, eyebrows furrowed. Sidon didn't do anything wrong; _Link_ was the one who misread everything. Who thought they were doing something they weren't, that they were...

Scratching at the back of his head, Link waves his other hand from left to right, as if waving the problem away. _It’s fine._

“Do you want me to continue?”

He shakes his head. And just as Sidon’s face starts to fall, Link opens his mouth. “It felt… It feels better.” He rolls one of his shoulders, and nothing cracks at all. “Thank you.”

Smiling, Sidon sweeps a hand from Link to himself. _You’re welcome._

Link takes a seat on the grass close to the fire, and Sidon takes a seat next to him. Despite any awkwardness, his back and shoulders really do feel better. He should wake up tomorrow without a tension headache, which will be nice.

Tomorrow is going to be a hard day.

They sit there side by side, staring into the fire, not saying a word. The five feet of space between them feels like an entire ocean. The blond rubs at his eyes.

Sidon clears his throat. “Link.”

“Hm?”

“Would you, perhaps…” Sidon is playing with his hands in his lap, and trails off.

For a second Link wonders if anyone else has ever seen the Zora Prince like this. Armorless, sitting on the grass, looking shy.

“Would you perhaps like to hear a story? I know many from my father’s younger days.”

His clawed hands are twisted up so tight that Link feels his chest twist right up with them. 

“Yeah,” he says, the word falling out of his mouth in breath.

Sidon smiles. Some of the tension drains from him; his shoulders, his posture, those hands. Nothing is worth losing what they’d built coming this far. Nothing. Link doesn’t need anything else.

“Wonderful! When I was barely twenty years old – perhaps five by Hylian standards – my father went north to meet a great beast who had been promised a Rito bride as tribute. You see, Rito Village at that time...”

Link closes his eyes as he listens, glad for the happy tone returned to Sidon’s voice.


	4. Faron Sea - Gerudo Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings** : gender dysphoria, electrocution, mild violence, sort of references overdosing (? im not sure what to call it, but it might bother some people).
> 
> My friend said to me once 'Link is gender fluid but has a lot of boy days' and the headcanon has lodged itself forever in my heart. He deals with dysphoria in this, but not body dysphoria. It’s more like presentation dysphoria. There are lots of different ways to be gender fluid, but if I’ve done something really off-putting feel free to (kindly) let me know.
> 
> I made the Gerudo more queer; I pretty much write fic because nothing ever has enough queer content so I need to give it to myself lol. Also used Sanskrit/made up some words for their language. [Here are translations](https://miasunri.tumblr.com/post/616279181403308032/%C4%81rya-friend-samk%C3%ADr-hero-f-saoten-good) if you want them.
> 
> Last, I think most of the fandom headcanons that Zora have a hard time in the desert w/o water, but the Zora King has some line in the game like 'we do as well in water as air' so I never thought about Sidon needing water. I hope that's alright with everyone. I think he'd love the heat. :')
> 
> Sorry it's so long @_@

* * *

Link is up first the next morning. He doesn’t remember falling asleep, but he’s curled up beside the now-dead fire and Sidon is sleeping soundly in the stream next to their spot. 

Whatever awkwardness last night had, if Sidon is over it, then Link is too. 

He busies himself with cooking breakfast. They have a long, hard day ahead of them, and they’re going to need the food. He makes some elixirs, too: a few for the heat, and a few for something else.

Once he’s finished, he goes over to their equipment and digs around for his desert voe clothes. It’s warm enough already to change, and it’s only going to get warmer.

He gets a glimpse of aqua fabric, instead. Silently, Link fingers the silky clothes. He can see the veil, and the ruffles under the chest piece. He wants to wear this.

But Link doesn’t know how to explain it to Sidon.

He pushes his way past the Gerudo clothes until he sees the shoulder pad, and starts pulling out his desert voe clothes. He cringes a little as he starts unclasping the buckles. 

Maybe, once they’re in Gerudo Town and Sidon is busy with Riju, he can sneak off.

Link drops his pants and starts getting dressed. The hair is always the hardest part to get right...

  
\---

  
Sidon wakes up slowly, cool river water gliding through his gills. The sun is barely up. The red rocky cliffs are bathed in pink light, as are the grass and the sandy beach he can see down the stream. He hears Link before he sees him, as is often the case in the mornings.

Sighing through his gills, he swims to the shore. Link had fallen asleep last night half way through the story about his father. He’d fallen asleep against Sidon’s shoulder.

He walks up the bank, spotting Link near the now-burning fire. The Hylian always seems to wake up early. Though he _had_ napped three times yesterday. 

When Sidon reaches the fire, the sight of cooking mushrooms making his mouth water, Link turns to greet him with a nod.

The Hylian stands stark and still, and places a hand over his heart, fingers open wide.

Sidon smiles. “Is that ‘good morning’?”

Link looks down at his hand over his bare chest as if he hadn’t realized what he’d done. He’s wearing something different, Sidon notices. The pants he has fan out and look cool to wear. They must be for the desert. They’re blue, patterned with dark violette moons, and come adorned with gold low to his hips. In his free hand Link is holding more gold armour, belts, and a piece that looks fit for his shoulder. There are violette flowers painted on the armour.

Flowers suit him well, Sidon thinks, as does all the gold and violette.

“It’s a greeting,” Link says with a shrug, dropping his hand. “Sleep okay?”

“Oh yes. The water in that stream is half salt, it does wonders for my skin. I had worried it would dry me out but instead I feel entirely refreshed!” He pulls his hand into a triumphant fist and grins. “If I succeed in striking this trade deal, I hope to bring other Zora here to experience the wonders of this coast.”

“I’m sure you will.”

“I certainly hope so.”

“You should eat,” Link says, pulling the gold armour over his shoulder. A shimmer catches Sidon’s eyes as it gleams in the pink sunrise. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

Sidon sits down and helps himself.

“Are those clothes from the desert?” he asks, watching Link tie the belt across his chest.

The Hylian nods, wordless.

“They suit you well.”

There’s no response this time. Perhaps Link is focusing on their route into the desert. He rarely speaks when he is busy planning. Sidon takes one more look; at the violette flowers, at the gold in the pink morning sun. Link’s hair is completely down, no tie holding it back, and his long ears stick out in a way Sidon finds more distracting than even the shine of the new armour.

There is something so… sleek about Link’s face, his head, the way his ears and hair shape him. 

Still, it is rude to stare, so he looks at the fire instead.

  
\---

  
Once he’s got all of his armour on and fitting right, Link sits down to do his hair. This always takes the longest. The desert is hot and he wants all of it pulled away from his neck at least, if he can’t wear the veil.

Holding his usual tie in his mouth, Link runs his fingers through his hair, straightening it before pulling it on top of his head. He uses the tie to hold it in place, and then clasps the metal piece around that.

“ _Ow_.”

He’d pinched his skin with the clasp. Shaking the pain out of his hand, Link reaches back up to feel around and make sure most of his hair had made it into the clasp. His bangs aren't long enough and always hang in his face. And he likes to leave a few strands down in front of his ears. Especially right now. 

There’s a clatter beside him. Metal hitting rock, a sound he knows instantly.

When Link looks, Sidon is standing near the trees, looking down at the ground with wide eyes.

He’d dropped his spear.

“My apologies,” the Zora says, reaching down to pick it up. 

Link stands, sure enough that his hair will stay. He makes a circle with his thumb and middle finger – _No problem_ – holding it towards Sidon with a wry smile. 

“I am not normally clumsy.”

Link drops his hand and raises his brow. 

“Alright. I am a _bit_ clumsy, but only in the mornings.”

The blond huffs through his nose, the sound more a laugh than anything. Sidon takes a bit longer to wake up than him, but it’s fun to watch him in the first hours of the day, trying to sort himself out.

Link crosses his index and middle finger, curling the rest into his palm, and moves his hand in an upwards arc.

“My apologies again, Link. I was not looking.”

“Are you ready to go?” he says out loud instead.

“Oh.” The unreadable expression that had been plastered across his white face vanishes and what’s left in its wake is one Link knows all too well. Sidon meets his eyes with blaring excitement. “Yes! Ready when you are, brave warrior.” Sidon bows low, still grinning. “Always.”  
  


\---  
  


They reach the east edge of the Faron Sea after a short walk. The salty breeze feels good on Link’s bare skin. The sound of their feet walking through sand is relaxing, though he knows in four day’s time he’s going to hate it.

They come up to the end of the beach, a mound of rocks separating them from the cliff wall they have to climb... 

Which Link had neglected to tell Sidon anything about. 

Sidon looks across the rocks and straight up at the cliff. “Link.”

“Hm.”

“You do not expect me to climb this.”

“...”

He had been thinking about how to do this all morning. The Gerudo Desert is up these flat walls and across the Wastelands. The Wastelands by nature aren’t populated by much more than wolves and birds. If he could get Sidon up this giant rock wall, then they’d be able to walk fairly easily into the desert.

“Link. That is a vertical climb.” Sidon’s eyes widen with worry. “I do not know how well you recall Lanayru Mountain, but I did not perform exceptionally.”

“Sidon.” Link looks up at him with a grin that is at least half a smirk. “You can do it. I believe in you.”

“Do not use my own words against me.” Sidon shakes his head. “That grin on your face is _not_ an honest one.”

“I have a plan.”

“Do you?” Sidon asks, clearly distressed.

Link nods. He reaches into his bag and pulls out a bottle of something purple. Then another. And another. And another…

By the end of it, the Hylian is holding thirteen glass vials in his arms, grinning from one pointed ear to the other.

“What are those?”

Blue eyes spark. “Stamina elixirs.”

\---

Sidon watches as the blond pops the cork off one, and then practically throws it down his throat, swallowing all of it in one gulp. 

Link pops the cork of the next and drinks that as well, so fast Sidon barely registers it.

“Link! How many–”

He drinks another, and then another, and finally Sidon reaches out to halt his hands.

“I do _not_ think this is a good idea,” he says, staring down at him. Already blue eyes are burning with fire. Both natural and likely synthetic from the elixirs.

“I had ten before you woke up,” Link says.  
  
“ _Ten_?”

“Took some time to kick in. I’ve done this before, we–” 

“That is _not_ reassuring!” 

“It’s fine. It’s the only way I can get you up. I’m strong, but I don’t think I could carry you up a vertical cliff.” He frees his hands from Sidon’s and moves towards the mound of rocks they need to cross first. “Problem is I might pass out by the time we get up there. You’ll need to carry me. Here, this is where we’re going,” he hands the sheikah slate over, nearly vibrating with energy, “this is how you unlock it, don't tell Zelda I told you, she’ll be pissed. There shouldn’t be any monsters this way but there’s this giant skeleton cyclops thing _here_ , so if I’m out wait for me to wake up. Sidon,” Link finally stops to breathe; he grabs Sidon’s wrist, looking up at yellow eyes that are cracked through with shocked fear. “Don’t fight the giant skeleton.”

“I have never heard you talk so much.”

“ _Stamina_ elixirs.” Link slips the slate around the metal vines that make up Sidon’s armour. 

Before he can do anything about it, Link is gone like a shot over the rocks, slipping into the water and swimming towards the vertical rock wall.

Once they’re both treading water at the bottom of said wall, Link tells him to go first. “You can use my shoulders as a foot hold,” he explains. “Do your best, _Prince_ ,” Link says, and then he winks at him.

Sidon’s heart races. The forwardness is not out of character — Link is not shy, although he is quiet — but the use of his title, the constant sound of his voice, that _wink_ — it is all a bit too much.

Perhaps it is a good thing that Link is normally quiet.

Sidon stares up at the flat rock wall from the water, unmoving.

A rough hand lies flat on his neck, under his headtail. The fingers flex. Push into his skin. It shoots his heartbeat up and Sidon is sure it must be all nerves from their intended task.

“If you fall, which you _won’t_ , you’ll land in the water,” Link says. “See? I thought of everything. Let’s go."

  
\---

  
To Sidon’s absolute shock, it works. He starts up the flat cliffside and Link comes up under him, giving him a place for his feet. He hears the Hylian grunting with effort; Sidon knows he is heavy. He does not like using Link as a foothold, he does not like climbing mountains, and most of all he does not like the thought of thirteen stamina elixirs coursing through his five-foot frame.

The sooner he gets up this cliff, the sooner Link can be done with the burden of his weight, and the sooner Sidon can scold him. He focuses on gripping onto the spaces he can find on the cliff side and makes his way up.

“Okay?” Link asks when they are halfway done with their task. His voice sounds very different. Loud, first of all. Groaning with effort. Coloured by the effects of potions. 

Sidon is panting, but manages out a rasped, “Yes.”

When he reaches the top edge of the cliff he grips with everything he has left, trying to hold his own weight. Under his feet Link pushes, and Sidon pulls himself up while he’s hefted over the lip of the wall, slipping onto flat ground, breathing hard through his gills.

He turns and reaches a hand down for Link.

But without the weight of a ten foot tall Zora to carry, the blond _leaps_ up the last five feet of the wall. His expression is manic, distant, crazed. 

And not in the normal way. Not in the way Link is when he’s enjoying the thrill of a challenge or a good fight.

“Oh Link…”

“Stamina elixirs,” he says, clearly trying to contain himself. “Are you alright? Any scrapes? You did amazing, Sidon. I don’t think any other Zora has ever climbed something like that. Look how high we are.”

There’s the ocean and the sky and the blurry place they meet, way out in the vastness beyond Hyrule, but all Sidon can focus on is the stuttering hum in Link’s voice. 

“I’ve got about twenty minutes before I pass out, maybe,” the blond says, turning back around to face him. Sidon is still sitting on the warm rocky ground. “You remember how to use the slate?”

“Of course. But Link, you should not have…”

“It’s my job to get you to Gerudo Town and back safely. This is the safest route.” His voice is all wrong, too loud and erratic, as if it were someone else’s. “You can trust me, Sidon.”

“I _do_ trust you,” he says from the ground, his chest feeling heavy. “I trust you more than I’ve ever trusted anyone. That is not the issue here.” Rising to his feet, Sidon takes the few steps needed to bring them close together. “Thirteen stamina elixirs is too many – _look_ at you.” He touches Link’s cheeks, just under his eyes.

They’re not blue, not the same blue they used to be. They’re lighter, clouded over with magic, and too much of it. He is, effectively, intoxicated.

“I had to get you up here, and this was the only thing I could think of. Every other route is full of monsters.”

“I would rather fight hordes of bokoblins _with_ you,” Sidon says, moving his hand to hold the full side of Link’s face, “than watch you do something like this to yourself.”

Pale blue eyes skirt back and forth between his own. Link looks lost, like he might not be able to hear him, like he’s somewhere far away. 

“Sidon.” Frantic fingers come up to the red ones along the side of his face. Link’s voice is hoarse, weak, falling out of him with unfamiliar urgency. “Sidon, I–”

With fluttering blond lashes the hero falls forwards, body going limp like a cut string. 

Sidon catches him easily enough. 

Link is heavier with his sword, shield, bow, and their equipment, but after a minor amount of contorting, Sidon hikes him up his back. The Hylian seems to be awake enough to hold him around the neck. He can feel warm breath under his fins.

“You are far too accustomed to risking your life,” Sidon says, mostly to himself. 

With Link latched securely to his back, he pulls out the slate. He’ll heed Link’s spastic warning not to go near that skeletal monster he’d marked on the map. If it must be fought, Sidon is adamant they do it together. Actions speak louder than words, especially where this foolishly brave Hylian is concerned.   
  


\---  
  


Link wakes up an hour later, ten feet in the air and to the smell of ozone and lingering salt. He’s dizzy, but that’s normal after so many elixirs. Shifting his legs up higher he expects some sort of greeting from the Zora, but he’s met with resolute silence.

Sidon’s feet stamp neatly along the rock under him. Even his toes have claws. Of course Link has noticed this before, but it seems more obvious against the rusty rocks of the Wastelands. His eyes cross and he can’t stop staring.

“Sidon.”

Nothing. Silence. Not once in the year he’s known the Zora has he ever been _quiet_. A sinking feeling slips sickly through Link’s stomach. It feels like a ball of writhing, oily snakes had decided to nest inside his gut.

Normally, Link doesn’t take more than one or two elixirs at a time. They can be addictive, and if you use them to push yourself too far beyond your limits, you can end up dead. He’s physically fit enough to not need to worry about dying, but he still tries not to take too many.

Sidon hadn't given him a hard time about the lynel, not really. He hadn’t been upset with him at any other point when things became dangerous. The wizzrobes, octoroks, and the lizalfos they’d faced on the river; the terrain they’d crossed; Link blowing up trees just to get apples.

What’s the difference between all of that and this? His head spins and so do the Wastelands around him. There is a difference. Sidon had already said it.

Closing his eyes, Link rubs his forehead into the side of a red tail, at the spot where it meets his head. 

“Sorry.”

“I am _not_ someone you need to protect.”

Sidon had replied so quickly he almost cut off Link’s apology. The blond lifts his forehead away, looking at the back of a red headtail with a scrunched up brow.

Link is here _to_ protect Sidon. He’s here to get him to Gerudo Town alive and bring him home again. That’s his job as a knight. That’s what he was asked to do.

“If you are to put yourself in danger, you must put me there too. If you ever go where I cannot follow you again, Link, I will… I will…” 

Heat swells inside his chest and Link wants to let himself fall apart, come undone; it’s the lingering magic in his blood, he knows, making all these feelings swim sickly in his heart. 

“I won’t,” he says, more than surprised at the admission.

“I may have led a sheltered life in a palace, but I have fought beasts for longer than you have been alive.” 

“Technically…” Link grins, only small, and presses into Sidon’s headtail again. “...I’m one hundred and twenty three years old. So.”

He can picture the look on Sidon’s face. “You are _not_ allowed to be funny.” 

Breathing in, Link takes in the deep, fresh scent of ozone. Sidon’s whole body is warm. His upper back is pressed into Link’s chest like a giant sun-soaked rock. And, crashing from a stamina overdose, Link is helpless to do anything but soak up all that heat. 

There are small spots dotted along his angular head; a few are right under Link’s fingers. They span the mantle that sits like an arrow above his face and trail back down along the sides of his headtail. Link had noticed them for the first time during the Vah Ruta fight. He wonders what they’re for. He’d wanted to ask then, and he wants to ask now, but he knows the words won’t come, not after what they’d just… what he’d just done.

He sighs against the base of Sidon’s headtail, closing his eyes.

  
\---  
  


The next time Link wakes up, he feels back to normal. He doesn’t usually sleep this long after taking too many elixirs. He’s not usually this worn out by them.

“Sidon.”

“Are you truly awake now?”

Link nods. “I can walk.”

The Zora kneels slightly, and Link hops off his back. He does a few stretches, rolling shoulders that still feel surprisingly loose, and then checks that his armour and weapons are all still in place. He sees the empty spot where the slate usually is, but Sidon can carry it just fine.

The Wastelands are pretty familiar to him. Link prefers this route to get to the Gerudo Desert. He knows exactly where they are after a quick sweep of the area.

The stalnox is just up ahead, over a small mound of rocks neither of them should have a hard time climbing. It’s early afternoon. If they push, they can get to the desert by nightfall.

“Are you feeling alright?” Sidon asks. 

Turning on his heels, Link looks up at him. He wants to say about a hundred different things and ask about a hundred more, but none of it makes it to his mouth. There’s too much, and he doesn't know what Sidon thinks. Is he still mad? It all twists up in Link’s head and turns into smoke. 

But they had talked. Link had said sorry, and he’d meant it when he said he’d never do something like that again. Put himself in danger with no way for Sidon to follow.

So he only nods, and then points over the top of a gradual uphill climb, not far across the dry ground under them.

“The stalnox is just over that hill. He has an eyeball. We need to attack that.” Link reaches up, checking his hair to make sure it’s going to stay tied up. Nothing worse than hair in his face during a fight. “I use arrows usually. But we should save them, I’m low.” 

“You have a plan,” Sidon says.

Link nods. “I need your help.”  
  


\---

  
The stalnox is pacing back and forth across its ledge, heavy boned feet stomping on the barren earth under it. Standing at the bottom of the ledge, Link presses a finger over his mouth, telling Sidon to keep quiet. He’d already explained his plan on the way.

Sidon nods at him, pulling his hand into a determined fist, and then he’s off. He climbs up the small ledge without any effort; if Link watches his back muscles work -- well, he can blame it on the elixir crash. 

Shouting at the beast, Sidon charges in. He’s not as fast on land as he is in the water, but stalnoxes are lumbering, so it doesn’t matter. Link doesn’t waste any time. He slips across the ledge, running as fast as he can, and begins climbing the cliff on the far side. 

As he climbs, sweating from sun and exertion, he can hear Sidon laughing. A bright, sing-song laugh. The kind that comes from honest enjoyment. 

Link grins to himself, shaking his head.

Once he reaches the top he turns to look down at the stalnox, making sure it’s still fully distracted. Its boned-back is facing Link, the single eye trying to keep up with the Zora as he darts back and forth. Sidon, bright red and tall, is an impossible target to look away from.

Link has always wanted to try this, but the stalnoxes always spot him; right now, he’s sure this one wont. 

Gripping his glider tight, he leaps in an arc off the upper cliff’s ledge. He lands on the stalnox’s shoulder. A teeth-jittering vibration runs up his back with the force, but he ignores it. He’ll only have a second. Link hauls his sword out of its sheath, grips a bone near the monster’s head to ground himself, and-

Misses. The stalnox had lurched forward, throwing off his swing.

Metal clacks uselessly against bone.

“Link!” A call from below sounds out. Sidon is looking up at him, still running to distract the monster, and shouting through his hands. “You can do it! You're amazing!!”

Somehow Links laughs, way up on the teetering shoulders of a giant. 

Wiping the grin off his face, needing to focus, he lines his attack up again.

Link hits it, this time, stabbing straight through the stalnox’s single eye.

The monster howls, a shrill cry that fills the empty space of the Wastelands. Birds take flight from their perches across the mountains as the call reaches out; it seems to wake the whole landscape up.

Then the beast is falling.

Link shouts in surprise as his fingers slip off of the bone he’d been holding and his legs lose all sense of balance. He pulls his glider out but an errant bone from above knocks it out of his hands.

It’s only a twenty foot drop, he’ll be alright, a broken leg at worst. He reaches out blindly anyway, hoping to grab a bone still with structural integrity. But his hands only grip on empty air.

Closing his eyes, Link waits for the all-too familiar _slam_ of hard ground.

Instead, he’s met with something much warmer. Two strong arms catch him, and Sidon makes an ‘oof’ sound as he bends his knees, bracing to hold the sudden weight.

“I’ve got you,” Sidon says, grinning, holding him by his back and the underside of his legs.

Behind them, the stalnox crumbles apart. Bones drop to the ground in a winding cloud of dust. 

Link is panting, gulping down desperate breaths of air. Looking up at Sidon all he can see are his teeth, the proud red crest of his head, his yellow eyes with their vertical slitted pupils. His mouth. The Wastelands around them, along with the undeniably beautiful skyline at sunset, disappear.

There is a large hand on his back. Link’s heart is roaring. He feels like it has roots and those roots have twisted all through him, curling around his veins and his throat and making him want in a way he didn’t think was possible. 

Taking a shuddering breath, Link reaches a hand up. He slips shaking fingers across a strong white jaw, up under his fin, up where he thinks Sidon might be sensitive. 

“...got you,” Sidon is mumbling to himself, his yellow eyes widening, his grin falling but those teeth still showing. 

Link nods. “You do.” He drags his thumb along Sidon’s cheek.

“Link.”

A loud crack cuts Sidon off. He turns away to find the source of the sound, and Link’s hand is left empty.

It’s just a group of stalizalfos.

Link hops out of Sidon’s arms. Without a word he charges over to the monsters, sword out and eyes wide with anger. He sends a bomb first, exploding all three of them apart. Then he beats them into a pile of dust with his sword. 

It doesn’t take long.

Panting, Link turns back around. The ledge is littered with bones. Some giant, some small, but all motionless.

“Link!” Sidon had moved far away. He must have found some to fight, as well, because he’s holding his spear. The sun is going down. They’ll find more if they keep walking. “That was wonderful! _You_ were wonderful!” The Zora slips his weapon onto his back, grinning down at Link as they come together.

Link, for all the good it does him, takes a deep breath.

He holds one hand out flat, and places the side of the other into it, looking up at his friend. _Are you okay?_

“I am more than okay! That was amazing. I have never seen a beast so large, let alone helped defeat one! Do you fight these often?”

Link shakes his head.

Leaving Sidon to marvel at the sheer amount of bones (‘So _many_ bones!’), he heads over to where he thinks he heard the sound of metal on rock.

He picks up the sword. It lights up with yellow electricity the moment he holds it. There’s a hum coming from the blade. It’s almost the same height as him. Gripping it with both hands, Link holds it out experimentally. 

While he’s looking at the blade, something shiny catches his eyes. Sitting next to a rib bone is a gem he’s never seen before. Link takes this as well, already deciding what to do with it, and slips it in a pocket.

“Magnificent!” 

He looks over his shoulder, and Sidon is watching him with his usual grin.

Link stares at him, ten feet away now. 

When Link walks back over to the Zora, he sets a hand over his heart, fingers spread. He stands up straight and squares his shoulders. He waits until he’s sure Sidon sees it. 

“I thought that meant ‘good morning’?” the Zora asks.

Then Link holds a hand out, sweeping it towards the other man. _Thank you._

“Oh no my friend!” Sidon steps in closer, shrinking the space between them, close enough that Link can smell how the dry Wastelands have altered his natural rainy scent. “Thank _you_! That was exhilarating. _You_ are exhilarating. I cannot put this into words, but watching you fight, it is like… watching life itself.”

“Life?”

Sidon nods eagerly. “You do it with such vigor. I can _never_ look away.”

Link doesn’t know what to say to that. With his thumb, he points to the new sword on his back. “Don’t touch this. It’s electric.”

“Ah. Noted.” 

Link waits quietly. Waits for anything. But Sidon only grins like normal, like there’s nothing to wait for.

“We should keep going,” the blond says. “If we can get to the desert by night, we can find a warm place to sleep.” 

“Shouldn’t it be _easy_ to find a warm place?”

“Desert’s cold at night.”

“What? Truly?”

Link nods, and then they leave the bone-covered ledge behind, walking side by side.

They make it to the outskirts of the Gerudo Desert by nightfall. Both of them change into their warmer clothes, Link in his snowquill outfit and Sidon in the blue coat they had found in Lanayru.

Sidon marvels at the endless starry sky, no mountains or peaks to obstruct the view; he tells Link about six times that he’s never seen anything even half as beautiful.

* * *

They're up in the hot sun the next day, the start of their long trek across the desert. It’s as sandy and hot and dry as Link remembers it. There are a few cacti scattered around, what plants that can grow with next to no water, and a single shrine like a shimmering mirage in the distance. It’s always impossible to tell how far or close things are here. The slate sometimes malfunctions, too, which doesn’t help.

Link wipes at his forehead, glad his hair is still held up by his tie and clasp. Their armour should keep them both protected from the heat. At least he’d assumed the Zora would need something to keep him cool.

Beside him, Sidon is practically preening like a bird. It seems like Zora are highly adaptable to heat. He’d peeled his armour off hours ago, claiming he wanted to ‘feel the sun more directly on his skin.’ He’s standing to his full height, shoulders swinging as he walks and an easy smile on his face. He isn’t sweating at all. 

“You should have told me the desert would be so wonderful, Link!”

With the voe armour the heat isn’t deadly, but it’s still too hot to call ‘wonderful.’ He tries to glare at Sidon but the unyielding sun stings his eyes.

Actually.

“Sidon.”

“Yes, my friend?”

Link holds his hand up, four fingers pressed together and thumb tucked into his palm. _Don’t move._

Obediently, the Zora stops in his tracks. 

Link walks until the angle is right — and stops when Sidon’s considerable head blocks the sun.

“Perfect,” he says with a nod.

“Link!”

The blond grins, standing in a Sidon-shaped shadow. “Thank you for your service.”

Sidon looks at him like he’s scandalized, and Link feels a happy rush. There is something sweet about his surprised expression. Maybe because Sidon is so _big_ and it’s incongruous to his gentle personality. Maybe teasing him is just fun.

“Link, as Hylia’s _Light_ ,” Sidon grins back at him, one half of his mouth slipping up his face. “I must insist upon direct contact with the sun!” 

Sidon jumps back and Link is soaked in sudden bright rays. 

He brings his hands up to shield his eyes, and squints at Sidon as the Zora dissolves into laughter. Link smirks, drops his hands, and runs full-force back inside the Zora's shadow. Sidon is not as fast as him, but he’s quick enough. He dashes out of the way like a streak of red-on-white lightning.

The next thing Link knows, they’re both running, playing an accidental game of tag through the endless dry air of the desert. Sidon is laughing — he’s laughing so much he chokes, a strange sound of lungs and gills locking up. And then he trips. 

Still roaring with laughter he tumbles across the sand, great red body bouncing along the soft desert floor like a giant red weed caught in the wind.

He comes to a stop on his back. Link runs over, half in a panic — but Sidon is fine. He’s wiping tears from his eyes, looking up at the sky.

“Oh Link. If someone ever told me I’d be in the middle of the Gerudo Desert playing chase with a Hylian destined to save the world... I would _not_ have believed them.”

Link can hardly believe _he’d_ just chased a naked prince through a desert.

Grinning, he holds a hand palm-down between them. _Me too._ He squats down in the sand, near Sidon’s head, and sets the side of one hand in the palm of the other. _Are you okay?_

Yellow eyes seem to blare up at him. The sun is dancing inside them for sure, but... there’s a whole different, brighter light from within.

Grinning up at him, Sidon says, “I am feeling something much greater than that, my friend.”

  
\---

  
Once it gets dark and the freezing wind from the mountains overtakes what heat remains from the sun, they decide to set up for the night. Sidon pulls on the warm royal blue coat Link had found for him. It is more frigid out here than Lanayru could ever hope to be. Sidon holds the coat close for a long moment.

Link changes into his warm clothes he had told Sidon earlier were from Rito Village. The feathers in his hair flair out over his left ear, reflecting pale moonlight like a beacon. It’s difficult to distinguish this reflection from starlight. If Sidon squints, it all looks the same.

They’d carried two bundles of firewood between them, and Link takes Sidon’s and starts a fire. The Zora can see the snowy cliffs northeast where the wind blows in from; they must have ventured around them on their way here from the coast.

Link had brought them to a stop at an alcove dug into the side of a cliff. It looks man-made, but withered from time, its edges smoothed by centuries of blowing sand. Regardless, it creates the perfect place to sit, and the cliff it's built into serves as protection from the wind.

Sitting tucked inside, Sidon watches Link work. He’d offered to help — the heat seemed to affect Hylian more than him — but Link had shaken his head. _Rest_ , he’d said with his hands. It takes so much to tire Link out. A day of walking through sand clearly hadn’t done the trick. 

Sidon watches as he unties the bundles of wood, fingers slipping under the string and pulling knots undone, that stoney concentration he has forcing his lips closed tight. Squatting, Link piles wood in a pyramid and then takes a step back.

He pulls out his bow from his quiver — and Sidon hurries to his feet, thinking he must have seen something coming for them from the sand-fog of the desert at night.

But the blond aims the bow down at the wood, and he shoots an arrow full of flames not two feet in front of him.

“Ah!” Link shouts, the end of his sleeve catching fire along with the wood. He smothers the small flame with his bare hand, glaring at it as if it had offended him.

Falling back to his seat on the alcove, Sidon erupts with laughter.

Blue eyes snap over to glare at him.

“Oh my friend.” He grins, setting his chin in his hand and his elbow on his knee, leaning towards the Hylian. “You certainly have your way of doing things.”

Link gestures towards the fire, lips still pressed in hard concentration.

“Yes, it’s lit. Your methods contain a great deal of chaotic ferocity but no one could fault you on the results.”

Rolling his eyes, Link goes back to work. He begins stoking the fire with his bare hands, hissing each time his fingers come too close to the flames. 

“Link, perhaps…” Sidon starts, reaching a hand out as if to stop him, “that is not a good idea?”

The Hylian looks at him, hand held out towards the flames, fingertips black, and tilts his head.

“Perhaps a stick?” There are many lying around the now-loosed bundles of wood.

Link reaches blindly behind him and takes one, poking at the fire until the flames climb high. His grin blooms at the same pace, unfolding across his mouth as the fire reaches up towards the black sky.

“Excellent! Brave warrior of the flame, we thank you for this offering,” Sidon says with a low bow.

Blue eyes jump over to glare at him again, but this expression is full of something playful and Sidon can only grin back at it.

“Can I help you with food?”

Link shakes his head. Standing up, he scratches at the back of his neck, clearly wanting to say something. But instead he walks over to their things and pulls out the food they’d carried with them. He lines up different vegetables, one palm fruit, and some fish.

Then he turns towards Sidon and gestures at the ingredients.

“Are you asking if this is what I want?” 

Link nods.

“Anything is fine with me. You are as masterful at cooking as you are at combat.”

Turning quickly, showing Sidon nothing but his back, Link gets to work. 

His hands are as careful with food as they are with a bow. Sidon had seen the way Link nocks and aims an arrow up close. The perfect pressure on the string, the steady hands, the instant release once he’s lined the shot up. Despite his reckless behaviour, Link is somehow so… gentle.

Peach Hylian hands grip at a radish. Link cuts it apart with the sharp end of one arrow, sitting crossed legged in front of the fire. Although Sidon can’t see them with the heavy clothes Link is wearing, he knows what the muscles of his arms look like, covered in patternless scars. 

Link has perfect control over his body. Sidon has watched him tear beasts apart, all that power focused in for a kill, and he’s felt Link’s hands around his neck, under his fins, on his jaw, nothing but softness.

Sidon has never met someone like him before. Someone who makes him feel so many different things. 

He sighs through his gills, watching the Hylian work unabashedly.

They eat together under the stars, something they’ve done enough times now that the memories are starting to run together in Sidon’s mind. 

“You tamed Vah Naboris here,” the Zora says, looking out at the dark vastness of the desert. The night hangs heavy like a blanket over the sand and distant mountains. Nighttime reshapes the entire picture laid out in front of them, in fact. It’s hard for Sidon to believe this is the same landscape they’d chased each other through only hours ago. 

What a difference in perspective a lack of light can bring. 

Sitting beside him on the alcove, Link nods, his mouth full of food.

“The Gerudo must feel as indebted to you as the Zora.” Sidon leans back against the cool stone behind him, staring at the infinite amount of sand. “I cannot wait to meet them. I must confess, I am not sure I’ve spoken with any Gerudo since I was a small child.”

Swallowing his food, Link says, “You’ll turn heads.”

“Yes. I suppose Zora are not a common sight way out here.”

Link snorts. 

They finish the rest of their meal in silence, another thing that has become as familiar to Sidon as the sight of Link working, the sight of him fighting, the fact of him there at his side. 

Once they’re done, Link busies himself with his hair. While he had already fixed it earlier, he seems unhappy with the result and so is re-attempting the style.

It’s charming to think that Link does his hair; that he takes such care with how he presents himself. Why should a warrior mind at all about aesthetics? Yet Link has shown up at the palace in a variety of armour, some sleek and made of cloth, others sturdy and made of metal. His hair is always done to suit each different look, unless it is covered by a mask or helmet. 

And now Sidon has _watched_ Link work on these outfits; undress himself and redress, placing everything just so, undoing his hair and pulling it back up into a new arrangement. It does not take him long, but he is meticulously careful about it.

In his Rito clothes, his hair is held back in a low tie. Link’s blond fringe hangs over his forehead as always, but only on one side of his face. On the other it is pulled back into the tie, creating a small opening just above his left eye. Long strands of gold fall over the front of his ears, wrapped in white cloth. This had taken Link the longest to get right. He’d re-wrapped them both three times. 

It’s what he is doing now, sitting on the other end of the small alcove, and Sidon sighs as he watches his fingers work.

  
\---

  
Link looks directly at the fire, acutely aware that he is being stared at. Is there something wrong with his hair? The wraps always give him a bit of trouble, but he needs them to keep his hair out of his face. Did he screw them up? Would Sidon even notice if he did? It’s not like Zora _have_ hair. 

He feels eyes on the back of his neck, and the small hairs there rise towards the stars above them.

“Link.”

The blond turns to look up at him; keeps his lips pressed shut so he doesn’t make any kind of noise.

“Your ears are very… striking.” Sidon isn’t looking at him now. His gaze is trained on the fire, and he’s got a death grip on the ledge under him.

Link touches at the tip of one of his long ears. 

Sidon turns away from the fire and, as if he’s afraid to do it, looks at Link. Even sitting side by side like this, the Zora is still much taller. His length is in his torso. 

“The way they shape your face, along with your hair, there is something so sleek about it all.” His cheeks are faintly blue, and Link is stuck staring for a long moment. In the wake of no reply Sidon says, “Sorry. I couldn’t help but notice.” 

The blond drops his hand from his ear. He opens his mouth, but nothing makes its way from his brain to his tongue. Link closes it, watching as yellow eyes flood over with embarrassment.

Sweeping his hand through the air, Link signs: _Thank you._

Sidon sits up, coming to his full height, apparently struck with a sudden thought. “What must people think? Seeing us together.” Like he’s unaware he’s doing it, he reaches a hand out towards Link’s face. Link goes rigid and so do those claws. Surprise colours his expression and then Sidon looks at him with a frown, as if confused by his own actions. “Sorry. I don’t know what…” 

Link wants to run his hands along the great red crest of Sidon’s head. He wants to know what his gills feel like, and those blue-yellow fins. He wants to know if Sidon really is sensitive under his headtail because when he was showing him how to shoot a bow he’d shivered every time Link talked against the back of his neck.

He grabs the hand Sidon had stilled in front of him. Link holds it in place, just a foot away. Slowly, he pulls it down towards one of his ears, looking up at the Zora with his brow raised. 

Sidon breathes in sharply, the sound shrill through his gills. “Is it alright?” he asks. His words are quiet, small. 

Letting go, Link nods. 

After a beat of silence, large fingers set themselves carefully on the tip of one of his ears. A swarm of butterflies unfolds inside Link’s stomach. As always, Sidon’s fingers are warm. They press in experimentally, gingerly and slow. Link pulls his wrapped-hair back around his ear, giving Sidon more access. Sidon sets his fingers fully on Link’s ear. They feel at the stiffer tip, down to the softer cartilage, claws skirting his skin too.

“It is cold.” Sidon’s words come out quicker than normal. “Are you cold?”

Link shakes his head. Through the hazy fog taking over his brain, his mouth works all on its own. “They’re usually cold.” 

“Fascinating.” Sidon’s other hand comes down towards him. “May I?” 

Link pulls his hair behind his other ear as well. 

Sidon touches both of his ears then, leaning down over Link to reach. All the blond can smell is the ozone sent Sidon always carries, no more lingering salt, and the dry coolness of the desert. He closes his eyes. 

Sidon rounds his fingers around the outer shells of Link’s ears. His stomach rolls over.

“Your hair, too. It’s…” Sidon’s hands wander over to his hair, pushing it away from his forehead. Link fights off a pathetic sound building low in his throat. A claw moves along his temple. “And these. What are these?” Sidon asks, gliding over his brow. 

“Eyebrows.” 

“ _Amazing_.” 

Link laughs, nervousness overfilling his chest. “You’re–” the words stick as claws scratch gently along the top of his head, displacing hair as they move. “–the one with fins.” 

“Fins are as normal to me as everything else that makes me a Zora.” Sidon’s voice is distant. “You are...” 

Link sucks in a breath as Sidon’s hand swipes down behind his ear, following the hair he’d tucked behind it earlier. “Oh,” he breathes out through a small shudder, feeling lightheaded. Sidon’s hands slip back up the side of his head, across his temple. The flat press of large fingers is enough to flutter his eyelids closed again, and the careful claws that follow flood his body lowly with heat.

Link sighs, his limbs like air.

“Does that feel good?” 

He nods. Sidon’s voice had been deep and Link wants to open his eyes, wants to see what the other man might look like doing this; but he’s afraid of finding Sidon unaffected. So Link keeps his eyes shut, letting Sidon roam around his foreign features, trying his best to hold in anymore sighs. 

Eventually Sidon makes his way down to Link’s throat. 

Blue eyes snap open. Link grabs both of Sidon’s hands, mouth pressed shut tight, and moves them away from his face. 

“Sorry,” Sidon says in a rush. “I…”

Link shakes his head. He drops Sidon’s hands, head spinning with a buzzing heat. Once he’s gathered himself enough, Link holds a hand flat between them.

_Me too._

“What?”

The blond stands up, right on the ledge of the alcove, and gestures towards Sidon. “My turn,” Link says.

When Sidon’s only response is a blank stare, Link starts to move away. He looks nervous. And no matter whatever else, Link never wants to make him that.

“Wait.”

Obediently, Link does. He stands perfectly still.

“Apologies, my friend. I do not know what came over me. For a minute, I… I lost my ability to speak.” Sidon leans back, offering his thighs. “You may need to stand on me to reach.” 

Link does not question his stilted tone, whether it is nervousness or shyness. Sidon doesn’t look unsure or afraid and that’s enough. 

Link makes a fist with one hand, placing it in the palm of the other, and pulls both hands down. _Heavy_.

“No,” Sidon says, his voice falling quiet again. He’s looking Link up and down. Starts from his thighs and moves up to his chest, stops at his hair. “While your frame is considerable in your own right, you… I can bear it.”

Link sets his hands on Sidon’s upper arm, balancing himself as he steps up on one of his thighs. This gives him all the height he needs.

\---

Rough Hylian fingertips touch the fins near Sidon’s cheeks, lifting them to inspect the underside. Sidon can’t help but breathe out a laugh at this. Link sets them back down and then moves his hands up to the crest of Sidon’s head, fingers dragging slowly across his spots. He sets the full length of these fingers on his crest, rubbing at it. It must feel odd to his hands, because he stays there for a long while, rubbing his palms and fingers around. Sidon’s muscles go slack. 

Link drags his whole hand flat across the mantle, out towards the long angular fins that stick out on either side of his face. From here, Link slides his hand up towards the dorsal fin on top of his head.

This tickles, and Sidon laughs again.

Although his eyes are closed, he can imagine Link is looking at him with a small smirk. Strong hands remove themselves from the fin and are placed back on the crest of his head once more. 

Sidon sighs, a feathery feeling unfurling through his gills. After such a long journey, it is nice to have these Hylian hands rub his mantle, all his calluses and perfect pressure. Link’s fingers glide around the front of one of his side fins, and slips underneath it; it’s sensitive there, the place where his fin hangs down over the side of his neck. The same as the place his headtail starts from. 

Link has held him here once before. On the river from Lake Jarrah to Lake Hylia. 

When those wizzrobes and octoroks had attacked, Sidon had panicked. He has dealt with octoroks a thousand times before on his own, and he knows they’re nothing to worry about, even in large numbers. But when Link had left him for the shoreline and Sidon couldn't tell where he was – no longer connected by that weight on his back – he’d fought with blind fear. He’d thrashed them apart in a frenzy. Not that he didn’t _believe_ in Link. The hero is highly adept. He’d gone through his entire journey largely on his own. 

Link was capable of anything. Despite all his unnecessary risk-taking, all his brash actions, all of that fire that blooms behind his blue eyes amidst a flurry of literal flames… Despite all of that, Sidon doesn’t worry about him. 

No. That’s not right. He worries. Who would not? Link throws himself into danger like moths throw themselves to the mercy of fire. Link seeks danger out. Link could not stay home and safe in his village. Link could have used the sheikah slate to travel to the Domain instantaneously to pick Sidon up but he _chose_ to climb, fly, and fight his way there. Link had shown up at the palace bleeding. He’d nearly lit himself on fire not an hour ago. 

Sidon _worries_ about him, about all of this, but… 

Part of him, that voice inside his heart that has been there since he was a child, understands this recklessness. Sidon knows exactly what it is like for the world to have expectations of you. Expectations you did not ask for. He loves being a prince, loves his father and his people; would not trade it all for anything. Yet he would be lying if he said he never stood alone at night and looked out at all of the Domain and wondered what he would be doing if he were not a prince. If no one was asking anything of him.

Sometimes all the pressure makes Sidon want to be reckless, too. 

“Link.”

By now Hylian hands have reached around the back of his neck, underneath his long headtail. They freeze, rigid. 

Sidon opens his eyes, and blue ones are awfully close.

The circular pupils are mesmerizing. 

“You have value outside of being Hylia’s Light, or Zelda’s guard, or the Hero of all of Hyrule. You do know that, don’t you?” 

“What?” 

Sidon takes his arms and moves his hands away from their exploration, only to hold them firmly in his own. He lets his claws scrape gently on peach skin. 

“You mentioned you feel as if you’re an arrow with no archer and no target, no enemy to fight any longer.” He looks evenly at blue eyes. “But you are not a tool, or some instrument for Hylia to play on a whim.” 

“... I know.” 

“Do you?”

Link merely blinks at him, looking taken aback. 

“My friend, you… You don’t belong to Hyrule. I know you are claimed by your destiny, but you deserve freedom as much as anyone.”

Link’s mouth opens and closes. His cheeks are red, flushed deeply from the cold, and blue eyes are staring at him, skirting back and forth between Sidon’s own. They’re nearly nose-to-nose with Link standing on his thighs, though the Hylian is still slightly shorter. 

“I want something bad to happen,” Link says, his voice coming out staccato and stilted, words chopped off at their ends. “For Ganon to come back, or anything at all. Maybe I spent too much time near Ganon's calamity, maybe it’s… inside me, and I’m sick. Why else would I want…” 

The weight of this fear is evident from the dark look on Link’s face. From the quiver in his voice. Something Sidon has never heard.

“Why else would I want _war_?” Link is not crying, but his eyes are strained, tempered of their normal vibrance.

Sidon releases his hands, only to pull him in by his shoulders. Link’s weight falls into him, a stocky frame of lean muscles; the soft collar of his coat presses into Sidon’s cheek. 

“There is nothing _wrong_ with you,” he says, wrapping the hero up in his arms. “Everyone wants a purpose, Link.”

“But, I can’t…” his whole body shakes; these thoughts are complex, not simple to articulate even for someone who does _not_ normally have trouble expressing themselves. “I can’t even...” Sidon waits patiently. He drags his claws down Link’s back, careful not to tear at his clothes. “I don’t know who I am without… without something to…” his tone drops deathly low, and Link shoves his face into Sidon’s throat, just under his chin, “... I don’t know who I am without something to _fight_.”

His voice had cracked apart on the last word. 

Sidon lifts Link up completely, picking his feet off of his thighs. He leans back against the rock behind him and holds Link in close. The blond climbs up over his shoulder, holding Sidon under his headtail, trying to hold as much of the Zora as he can.

“What of it?” Sidon says softly into blond hair. “There are plenty of beasts to fight in Hyrule.”

The other man grips at his neck and doesn’t respond.

“Oh Link.” Sidon drags his claws down his back again, wishing the coat was not hindering the gesture. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to do this to you.”

Link shakes his head, and fingers rub gently at the back of Sidon’s neck. 

He holds Link for a long time. He doesn’t let go until his breathing is back to normal. He doesn’t let go until Link does so first.

He sets the blond back down to stand on his thighs. His eyes are red from stress. How long has this been bothering him? 

“You’re not sick, Link,” Sidon says, taking his smaller hands in his own once again. “You’re a man of action who, without anything to do, becomes restless. If you are an arrow that requires an archer, I am sure the Princess would be happy to give you work. You do not need to sit around Hateno Village forcing yourself to enjoy a peaceful life.”

“Sidon…”

“Oh, do not look at me with eyes like that. I have merely been through something similar,” he says, pulling Link’s hands in closer. They’re becoming cold from being out in the open air again. “Recklessness often has a source. Though I think for you some of it is simply innate.”

He can tell by looking that Link wants to say something, so Sidon releases his hands.

Link holds them out palm-up and shoulder length apart. _What do you mean?_

“I think your recklessness is part of who you are, but was perhaps born from fate controlling you— oh.” Link is shaking his head, and Sidon stops. “Not that?”

The Hylian sets a hand palm-down between them. That means ‘me as well’ or ‘the same.’ Sidon tries to connect the meaning, but cannot.

“We need to make more, don’t we,” he says, looking sheepish. “My apologies, dear friend. I don’t understand.”

Link drops his hands. “You’ve been through something similar?”

“Oh.” Sidon shifts where he’s sitting. Link, still standing on his thighs, moves with the motion. Blue eyes look up at him, and the Zora finds himself leaning down a little as he explains. “As I told you before, my father was very protective all my life.” He smiles and adds, “When he said he needed Hylian help to tame Vah Ruta, I jumped at the opportunity. But that was not until I was much older. 

“When I was a child, and then a young teenager, I was hardly let out of the palace. It created quite a rebellious streak in me. I could _not_ be contained.” Sidon grins, and notes that Link’s eyes drop down to his teeth. Well, they are a great deal sharper than any Hylian’s. “Our situations are vastly different, of course. I hardly had the Goddess Herself demanding heroics of me. But…”

Sidon pauses, thinking of how to word it. Link is staring at him intently. He will not risk a misunderstanding under such attention.

“I know what it is like, living a life of expectation. I would not know who I was if I woke up tomorrow no longer a prince, but still I often wonder who I would be… Would I be traveling like this? I think I would live somewhere much warmer. I love the heat, as it turns out.” He smiles, and then shakes his head. “Ah, I am rambling. Apologies.

“I simply meant that you are not strange for feeling lost after having your purpose in life taken from you. I am angry at your Hylian Goddess, at times, if I think about it. She seems to have used you and then tossed you aside.”

Link stares at him with wide eyes.

“Sorry, is that sacrilege? We do not worship the same gods.”

The blond shakes his head. He brings his hands up, but they fail him. He fumbles and then gives up altogether, setting them on red shoulders. Pink lips part again, but no sound comes out.

He looks miserable, then. 

“It is okay, Link. You don’t need to—”

“Sidon,” he starts anyway, hands gripping hard on large shoulders. Determination replaces the misery. “I can’t talk because there’s too much I want to say.”

“I know. You d—”

Link covers his white mouth with the palm of one hand. After a deep breath, he speaks. “I knew all of that. But hearing it… means more. Thank you.” He releases Sidon’s mouth from his hold.

“You cannot thank me,” the Zora says, feeling frantic, hands finding Link’s back all on their own, “You don’t know how much you have done for me. No one in the Domain would believe I shot an arrow, or climbed Mount Lanayru, fought a stalnox, sunbathed on a foreign beach, rode on an elk, ate Hylian mushrooms under a starry sky… I am more than one-hundred years old and this is the first time I have seen the desert!”

Link makes a sound, something small from deep inside his throat.

Sidon pulls him in closer by his lower back, only a single step; feels his spine, the gradual dip in it, all the rolling muscle along his sides. “I have seen and done so many things I never thought I would thanks to you. So you cannot thank me, my friend. No.”

The Hylian shakes his head, mute otherwise.

Sidon pulls him in closer, and Link is forced to take another step forward on his thighs. “Link, I… I have been more myself, here with you, than I ever get to be in the palace.” His voice drops low and Sidon finds he can’t see anything except blue. “I feel as if I’ve… oh, I do not know, I can’t _think_ ,” he laughs suddenly, bright and nervous, “I feel like I’ve rid myself of my title, and I am laid bare for you to see.”

“Sidon,” Link breathes his name more than he says it.

And then before Sidon can register it, all the warmth in his hands is gone.  
  


\---

  
Link leaves. He leaves because if he doesn’t… _if he doesn’t_ …

He runs a hand through his hair, pulling some out of the tie. His heart feels like it’s on fire. How can Sidon say things like that? Hold him close and tell him all of that and _not_ expect him to fall to pieces?

“Link?”

“I’ll be right back,” he says, his voice sounding far away, drowned out by his rabbiting heartbeat and the roaring rush of blood in his ears.

Link doesn't know where he’s going, he just goes. He needs space. He needs a _drink_.

There’s no pond to wade into this time, and while the desert air is freezing, none of it seems to help. 

  
\---

  
Sidon watches him go with a confused frown. The fire cracks next to him, but otherwise there’s only silence. His hands feel… empty. They’re resting on his lap. 

His heart is hammering, and he keeps looking through the darkness, hoping to see a familiar outline returning.

It’s not as if they’ve never been apart during their journey. Link often goes off by himself to collect food or firewood.

So, then. Why? Why is this sudden aloneness so… hollow? 

The night seems too quiet. The stars feel far away, and the wind that passes across his cheeks is as frozen as ice. Not five minutes ago he’d had Link in his arms. That had been warm, warm in a way he’d never known. And this emptiness is another thing Sidon feels he’s never known. 

Link comes back after about twenty minutes. Maybe he’d just needed to collect his thoughts. They’d been having a heavy conversation, and one that had clearly been weighing on his mind for weeks, apparently ever since he killed Ganon.

As he comes into the light of the fire, Sidon can’t help but stare. The very sight of him returning to their camp fills his chest with warmth. How many times has he seen it these past two weeks? His strong frame walking towards Sidon, head held high but gaze easily distracted by any birds or butterflies flitting around.

There are no such creatures here, so Link is looking directly at him.

Warmth floods his body fully, from his clawed feet to his throat, nearly suffocating. Sidon is so happy to see him he does not imagine he can contain himself. He wants to pull Link into another embrace. He wants to undo his pretty hair and feel his rough hands on his mantle again.

_Pretty…?_

Well, _certainly_ Link is pretty. Especially when he’s performing some dangerous feat. But who would not find him so? One would have to be dead not to notice his fiery blue eyes; the deft way he uses his hands; the rough clarity of his voice; the way he smells like fire and earth; the way his thighs feel against Sidon’s gills when he sits on his back; just the very _weight_ of him on his back, in his arms, wrapped around his neck…

 _Are you alright?_ Link signs.

“Oh! Yes. I’m fine.” Sidon’s voice comes out high, and his heart shoots up his throat.

Two blond eyebrows raise in response. 

Link is his _friend_. Of course he makes Sidon happy. Lots of people do. 

He looks down at the Hylian standing next to the fire, shadows and light contorting across his cheeks, his nose, and his jaw. Link’s lips are pink; they’re full, the bottom flat and the top pulled up into an arching bow. His face has so many angles, so many places for Sidon’s eyes to roam. Firelight floods each of these spaces, bending with the wind, drawing his eyes in and keeping them there. What would it feel like, he wonders quietly in the deeper parts of his mind, to run his fingers across his mouth?

The thought sends another wave a warmth through him. That— that is _not_ something he could do. That would be… 

Link turns towards the fire, rolling his shoulders, his back arching as he shifts to a long stretch. A groan slips out of him, nothing Sidon hasn’t seen and heard a hundred times at least.

Yet he smiles, his mouth pulling up on its own, and he feels his upper row of teeth poke into his bottom lip. Oh he is _happy_ , he is happy every time his gaze is filled with the fact of this Hylian. Sidon doesn’t want these days and nights to ever end. He knows they must, he has an obligation to his people, but if his life were different, if things were different…

He would like to stay like this forever.

Sidon’s gills suck back an unexpected breath of frozen air, and he goes rigid. 

His mind races; forever? _Forever_? Forever as in the rest of his life? Oh that would be too much to ask, yet it is all his heart wants.

More heat comes to him as something delicate clicks into place. It is as soft but certain as the grains of sand piling to fill the desert around him.

Sidon looks at Link again, and he can barely breathe.

“Sidon.”

But he can't, a Zora Prince _can't…_ not with the Hero of Hyrule…. That would be— _This_ is—

“ _Sidon_.”

He nearly jumps ten feet in the air. Link is standing next to where he is sitting on the alcove. He hadn’t even heard the Hylian climbing up so close.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“Yes! Sorry.” Sidon looks at his pink lips, at the strength in his jawline, at the golden hair that had slipped out of the tie. He breathes in sharply. Cold desert air stings his gills again. “I think I simply need to go to sleep for the night.”

Link reaches a hand out, perhaps wondering if he might be too cold.

Lifting himself off the alcove stiffly, Sidon turns away and leaves.

  
\---

  
Link stares at his empty hand and the empty space Sidon had been in. 

_Shit_ , he thinks, tugging the hand roughly through his hair.

* * *

The final walk to Gerudo Town the next day is a quiet one. Link had tried to offer Sidon breakfast, just half a melon cut up into slices, but the Zora had refused. He’d kept his distance, sitting on the opposite end of the alcove while Link ate.

Even now, walking together through the desert, Sidon is at least ten feet away from him. Yesterday they’d walked so close Link kept bumping into his side.

Link had been kind of… intense, last night. And during the fight with the stalnox, when Sidon had caught him. 

Maybe he’s been too… 

Or maybe he crossed a line, and now…

He looks at the Zora’s side profile. Stiff back, gaze held straight forward. He normally carries himself proudly, but he’s a little more tense than proud. There’s normally a bounce to his gait, but it’s gone.

They arrive at the bazaar by mid afternoon. Link had expected Sidon to be thrilled at the sight of water in the middle of the desert. He’d been looking forward to the grin he knew Sidon would make, how his teeth would gleam in the bright desert sun.

But instead he hardly says a word.

Gerudo and foreigners alike stare openly at Sidon as he and Link stand near the water of the bazaar. There probably hasn’t been a Zora out here in a century, since before Ganon took over. None of the glances or open stares are offensive. Only surprised. A few women look Sidon up and down, and one man if Link’s not imagining things. 

He readjusts his gear on his back, and then looks up at Sidon. “I’m going to go stock up,” he says, ignoring the way his heart sinks when those teeth don’t flash at him. “You can go in the water, if you want.”

Sidon nods, silent and with a closed-mouth smile. “You don’t need help?”

Link shakes his head. 

With that he’s off, turning quickly on his heels, the lingering fact of an awkward farewell following him. It’s okay. It’ll be okay. He’ll give Sidon as much space as he needs, whatever he needs. He’ll never touch him again if that’s the problem. Link had been pretty sure all their… hugging had been mutual, but people change their minds. Sidon has found some reason to not like it anymore, and—

Link sighs. No point in ruminating. Focus.

He hears the now-familiar sound of a ten-foot tall body slipping into water.

If he gives Sidon space, maybe things will go back to normal. More than anything Link doesn’t want to lose… everything they’d built up. He doesn’t need more. He’s glad to have Sidon as a friend.

_You are not an instrument for Hylia to play on a whim._

Link is exactly that, but it had been nice to hear someone tell him differently. It had been nice to think it could be different.

_You do not need to sit around Hateno Village forcing yourself to enjoy a peaceful life._

He’d thought about that, weeks ago. He could just travel around. But it seemed crazy to pack up and go looking for a fight, for problems to fix. Shouldn’t he stay at home? Isn’t that the normal thing to do?

_I am often angry at your Hylian Goddess._

Link has a hard time picturing Sidon angry at anyone – but it must happen. And the idea of him being upset with the Goddess is… 

Link doesn’t let himself finish the thought. He’s glad to be in service to the world. He’d happily taken his place in his destiny. It’s not like he wouldn’t have saved Hyrule if he’d had a choice. 

_I feel like I’ve rid myself of my title, and I am laid bare for you to see._

Heat washes over his face and Link ducks his head down, worried someone might see him. The bazaar isn’t crowded today but people are always friendly here. Someone will stop to ask him if he’s okay, and Link isn’t sure about the answer.

He shakes his head. He was supposed to stop ruminating, stop being so intense. He'd made Sidon uncomfortable.

Since he’s dressed in his voe clothes, no one recognizes him as he makes his way around the bazaar, though he sees a few Gerudo he knows. They greet him coolly. Link is starting to feel a bit… out of sorts for a different reason.

As soon as he drops Sidon off with Riju, he can change.

Link buys some fruit and sells a few things for some extra rupees. He’ll have to get more arrows inside the city later. 

When he returns to the water, Sidon is lying up to his chin, his back resting along the shallow bottom and bank. There are two Gerudo women and a Rito talking to him. The Gerudo stay on the shoreline, but the Rito is right in the water with him. 

Sidon has his armor on again, had said something earlier about wanting to be presentable.

“A prince?” The Rito asks as Link makes his way over.

“Yes! Prince Sidon of the Zora!” He pulls his hand into a fist, grinning wide. “Your desert is beautiful at night, warriors, but I am grateful for a place to rest. Thank you for welcoming me to your bazaar.”

Belatedly, Link realizes the two Gerudo are armed guards. 

“Did you come alone?” The taller of the two women asks.

Sidon doesn’t seem aware he’s being interrogated. Not that it matters since they have nothing to hide. 

“Not at all! The great Hylian Hero escorted me all the way from my home.”

“Oh,” the guards’ demeanour changes, wariness replaced with something lighter, “You must mean Link? The Hylian vai who tamed Vah Naboris?”

“Yes, the very one.” Sidon is smiling softly.

Link feels bad for eavesdropping, but he’s standing right behind them. It’s not like he’s hiding.

“Where is she?” The shorter guard asks.

“Sh—?”

Link drops the fruit he’d been holding. The hydromelon rolls into the water with a plop. 

“Oh,” Sidon says when he catches sight of him. He picks up the melon and stands, water dripping from his considerable frame. Neither of the guards stare. Link knows them both, and knows Sidon in general isn’t their type. “I must bid you farewell, warriors. Thank you for speaking with me. I imagine Zora and Gerudo haven’t conversed in a great many years.” He bows when he gets out of the water, melon still clasped in his hand.

The guards give Link a suspicious look, and then leave with a nod.

Link is starting to feel worse than off-kilter. He’s starting to feel sick. When he felt like this before and didn’t know the reason he used to hide out in Hyrule Field, searching through ancient ruins for treasure and old weapons. Anything to distract himself. Anything to be as far away from other people as possible.

It’s not always like this; not always urgent. Only sometimes. Sometimes, like now, he wants to crawl out of his own skin.

“Link,” Sidon says, the first time he’s said his name in twelve hours, “You’re red. Maybe we should rest inside for a moment. Chief Riju can wait an hour.”

“No,” he says so fast Sidon’s eyes widen. Link shakes his head. “Let’s go.”

He takes Sidon to the front gates of the city. The two guards here, Merina and Dorrah, look down their noses at them. 

“State your business, voe.”

Link fights against anything showing on his face. “Prince Sidon is here to speak with Chief Riju. She should be expecting him.”

Next to him, Sidon bows. He stays quiet, which Link had told him to do. Not all Gerudo hate men – some even go out into the world looking to marry them, or to have children – but the guards _always_ hate men. 

“Ah. You’re the Zora then?” Her accent sticks on the title. Sidon nods. “Riju has a tent set up on the other side of the shrine. You may wait there. I will tell her of your arrival.”

Link thanks them, and then leads Sidon towards the shrine, looking for the tent.

As they walk away, he can hear the guards whisper.

“I thought Link was escorting the prince?”

“Guess she was busy. That vai is all over Hyrule.”

He looks up at Sidon, but the Zora is noncommittal. Hopefully he hadn’t heard. Link’s hands are wet with sweat that has nothing to do with the heat.

As the guards had said, there is a large white tent set up behind the shrine. It’s big enough for Riju and Sidon and a few guards. There’s no one around now, but this close to the city nothing bad could happen. Riju would never let a guest be harmed, even if he were a voe.

“You’ll be okay on your own?” Link asks, the words tumbling out too quick.

Sidon nods. “Of course. Where should I find you, when I’m done?”

“Bazaar,” he says unthinkingly, his skin crawling. 

With a nod he makes to leave, thinking of the best place to change. 

“Link, wait.” 

That voice turns his head like a command. Link stands straight and faces Sidon, shoulders squared.

His sheikah slate is held out towards him, red fingers grasping it. 

“Your slate,” Sidon says, the words slow. 

Link takes it back, looking benignly at the desert behind Sidon, hoping he won't notice how wet his hands are.

The tips of claws scrape at his fingers. He doesn’t react other than a small breath of air. Doesn’t move closer. Link slips the slate onto his hip, nods, and then he leaves.

He heads straight for the shrine. It’s the closest and, as long as no one sees him entering it, it won’t be suspicious at all when she leaves it. When she pulls the slate out and opens the shrine, she already feels better.

Alone inside the shrine, Link peels off her voe armour. She slips the shoulder plating off, the gold metal in front of her calves, and the pants. Stuffing these into her pack, she pulls out the Gerudo clothes, leaving the veil off. She’ll keep it with her in case she feels like covering her face, but it’s never made a difference in her “disguise.” 

As soon as she’d been alone, she’d felt better. Now that she’s dressed right she feels… normal. Even though no one would think so.

Link exits the shrine, and heads for the city.

The two guards that had been cold earlier smile the moment they see her.

“Sav'aaq, Link! It’s been a long time,” Dorrah says, relaxing her stance when she sees the Hylian.

Merina, the other guard, speaks next. “I heard rumours that you were coming. Have you been well?”

Link nods. 

Dorrah smirks down at her. “You look worn to the bone, samkír. Have you had a long journey?”

Link turns to show the two women her back, the half-healed gash there as well as new slices from fighting the wizzrobes, lizalfos, and the stalnox.

“Impressive. A Hylian vai after our own hearts,” Dorrah says. 

“And that sword! Is that the same one that was lodged in the spine of the stalnox in the wastelands?” 

Link nods, and she holds it out for the two guards to get a better look.

“Sa'oten!” Merina says, her dark cheeks glowing in the lightning light. “You took that beast down alone?”

Link shakes her head.

“You traveled here with someone, then?”

“We heard rumours you were bringing a Prince clear across Hyrule. We met the very voe earlier today. He was polite.”

Not wanting to answer any of that, Link grins up at them, and then pulls two halves of a melon from behind her.

“For us?”

“You are too kind, as always.”

Leaving them with the food, Link heads through the front gate and into Gerudo Town. The smell of fresh spice and food hits her like a wall. The whispering sound of water falling down the colourful mortar comes next, followed by loud laughter, probably from the bar. Three kids scurry past her, arms stacked with boxes, nearly knocking into Link before she stops to let them pass. Women with carts and wares cross the central courtyard in troves, their feet either tapping or stomping depending on their footwear and stature. Guards stand stoic against the walls. There’s the clanking of metal on metal from the armoury, a sweet sickly smell wafting from the items shop, mixing oddly with the scent of spice.

The very first thing Link does is buy Danda’s entire stock of arrows.

“Every time,” she says, shaking her head at Link. “I’ve never met a traveler who uses so many arrows.” She smirks up at her, lounging lazily on ruby red blankets. “Link, you must tell me — is it true you brought a prince here?”

She thinks about whether she should lie or not — had avoided the question with the guards — but these women have given her something no where else in Hyrule would. 

Link nods.

“Oh you truly are a knight, my dear.” Danda waves a casual hand through the air, looking unimpressed. But she always looks like that. “How lucky is he? To have such a pretty and capable vai all to himself.” She lowers her eyelids at the blond.

Link dips her head into a thankful bow, and hurries to the next shop.

Isha is standing outside of her accessory shop, eyes closed and face towards the sun. She doesn’t seem to hear Link as she comes to a stop next to her.

Link clears her throat.

“Oh! Rizho, Link! I was catching the last light of the afternoon.” Hands on her hips, Isha simpers down at her. “There have been many rumours floating around the city about you, samkír. Have you found yourself a lover? A mountainous red asi, apparently.” 

Link shakes her head, ignoring the weight that balls up in her gut. “He’s a friend.”

“Oh, well. The whole city will rejoice, then.” She sighs through her nose. “Now, what can I do for you?”

Fingers fumbling, Link pulls out the gem she’d found from the stalnox’s bones — and Sidon’s headpiece, which she had swiped from him early that morning when the idea had fully formed in her mind.

“Can you make something like this,” she asks, holding out the head piece. “But with this gem?”

Isha takes the items from Link’s hands, raising a red brow. “Are you certain he is only a friend?”

Link tilts her head.

“Do you know what this gem is, ārya?”

She shakes her head. The Zora seemed to like gifts in general, and this gem, she thinks, would go well with his eyes. She’s hoping this will fix whatever she’d ruined, whatever she’d done to make things awkward all day today.

“This is titanium quartz. Gerudo gift it as a promise to always protect, as an oath of strength and loyalty.”

A hand falls over Link’s heart. She’s surprised to find it’s her own. 

Dropping it, Link looks up at Ishia, but thankfully the Gerudo is too preoccupied with the gem to have noticed.

“The one you’ve found has very uniform colours. Black, red, aqua… Normally this quartz is a rainbow of colour. Where in all of Hyrule did you find such a gem?”

Link shrugs. “How soon can you…?”

“I can have this done by sundown, if you are in a hurry. Anything for the Hylian vai who saved us.” Ishia tucks the gem into her pocket, and takes Sidon’s crown from her as well. “The quieter you are, ārya, the more important your thoughts,” she says, flicking her eyes over to look at the blond.

Link scratches at the back of her neck. Isha could always see right through her, just like Zelda. She'd would never want to be in the same room as the two of them. She’d be out of secrets in seconds.

“Thank you,” Link says, sweeping a hand from her towards Isha out of habit.

The jeweller doesn’t reply. She’s staring out across the courtyard, now, towards the city’s exit.

“What’s wrong?” Link asks.

Isha starts as she looks back down at the Hylian. “My daughter, Shamal, went out to the ruins, and hasn’t returned.” 

Link opens her mouth to offer the obvious, but Isha shakes her head.

“I sent Kaipo out after her, no need for the Hylian Hero to concern herself.”

\---

Next, Link plans to go to the armoury, but as she passes by the cantina someone grabs her arm.

“Link! Sav'saaba!” Kahula grins at her, their sides running up against each other. Gerudo are usually tall, but she is closer to Link’s own height. “I heard you were in the city. Come, samkír. You must drink with us. It has been months.”

This is how Link finds herself sitting at the table near the open window of the bar, surrounded by Poyra, Sarqo, and Kahula.

Poyra is from Kakariko Village. She sews for a living and explained to Link that there wasn't enough of a market in her village for two seamstresses, and she’d always wanted to travel, so she’d decide on crafting clothes for the Gerudo. Sarqo is a guard, even quieter than Link is. She always looks vaguely irritated. Probably good for her line of work. Last, Kahula is a warrior, who Link has met more than once crossing the desert. She has an overtly positive attitude and makes perfume with her mother while off duty. 

One of them had ordered her a Noble Pursuit from the bar, and now Link holds the drink with both hands, staring at their three faces. 

She had been planning to visit them, anyway. After so many nights spent here working to tame Vah Naboris, these three women had become her friends. They opened their homes up to her, gave her a bed and food, even before she’d found the helm and Riju had begun to trust her more.

For the first half hour, Link simply drinks and listens to her friends talk. 

She’s reminded of Zelda, at one point, and she sighs.

“Anyway, Link.” Poyra sets her chin in her hand, leaning across the table towards her. “Now that you’ve got most of a Noble Pursuit in you, ārya, tell us. What of this tall, red, mountain of a voe you’ve brought to our desert?”

Kahula laughs, while Sarqo rolls her eyes.

Link grips her drink tighter and doesn’t say anything. She really wishes she’d worn the veil. It’s still tucked in with the rest of her items, but it would be weird to put it on now.

“I had always thought you prefered vai,” Kahula says. “Half the city will be in tears to learn you do not.”

The blond opens her mouth, and thanks to the alcohol something actually comes out of it. “I don’t care. About that.”

“Gender?” 

Link nods. She hadn’t really thought about it much, hadn’t had a reason to until the first time she’d met Sidon. “I like how he looks but… I don’t think I’d care if he looked some other way.”

Kahula slams her hand on the table, making the other three women jump. “HA! So you do like him! The Hylian Hero is enamoured, did you hear that?”

Heat rises up to her face, partially from the desert, partially from the drink, mostly because she’s lost control of her mouth. Whenever she drinks, be it stamina potions or liquor, her thoughts find their way to her tongue seamlessly. All of them. Without reserve. She’ll have to sober up before she sees Sidon again. Everything else notwithstanding, Link won’t do anything more to ruin their friendship — including being too forward from alcohol.

“Do you think— Does he…?” 

Link slumps over her drink, staring at the pale blue liquid. She shrugs. 

“You need to tell him how you feel, Link,” Poyra says, patting her hand on her back. 

“He’s a prince. And a Zora,” Sarqo, the stoic guard, says.

Kahula replies, “So? She’s the Hero of Hyrule!”

“Isn’t that exactly the problem? Can a Zora Prince partner with a Hylian?”

“But Link saved the world! Surely the Zora would make an exception.”

By now, the blond has finished her drink. She has thought about all of this: about title, about rules, about how she would hate waiting around the Zora palace as much as she’d hate waiting around Zelda’s or Hateno Village. How Sidon _has_ to return home and their adventure will eventually, necessarily, stop.

How none of it matters, in the end.

“It’s not mutual,” Link says simply.

The three women look at her sadly.

“Go get her another drink,” Kahula says. 

“No, order us a pitcher,” Poyra adds.

“Link.” Kahula levels her eyes at him. “Voe can be easily wooed. They are not complicated creatures.” 

“Kahula, that’s—” Poyra waves her hands as she speaks, “They’re like vai. They’re all _different_.”

“Woo him by carrying him over a mountain!” Kahula says, ignoring Poyra and holding her drink up with great triumph. “He is very large, so it will be very impressive.”

“I did.” Link huffs out a laugh. “Twice.” 

“Defeat a beast in his honour!” 

“Did that too.” 

Kahula frowns. “And he did not fall madly in love with you? What beast was it? Maybe you need to defeat a stronger one.”

“Lynel.”

“Ah.”

“Have you tried making him clothes?” Poyra asks, much more timid than her warrior friend. “My sister’s lover swooned at the dress she made her.”

Link nods.

“Hmm... What about cooking for him?”

Link nods again.

“Have you saved him from perilous danger?” Kahula asks. “Coming within inches of your own death?”

“I guess I didn’t almost die, no.”

“But you risked your life?”

Poyra throws her hands around again as she speaks, “It’s Link! How many times has she shown up here bleeding? Or on fire? Of _course_ she risked her life.” 

“But if you did all that—”

Sarqo, her voice much more calm, speaks at the same time. “You did all that, and he did not appreciate it?”

“No,” Link says, shaking her head vehemently, her stomach sour with alcohol. She should have had some food first. “He’s the most... appreciative person I’ve ever met.” She grips at her re-filled glass, considering another drink regardless of her aching gut, because of her sinking heart. “I can’t force him to feel… what I do. I wouldn’t want to. We’re friends and that’s enough.”

“Oh but _Link_ ,” Kahula starts. She sets a dark hand on Link’s chin and tilts her head up towards her, “Āyra, you look so sad.”

“Anyone would be lucky to have your affections,” Poyra says.

“He is a fool for dismissing you! A heart-blind voe no better than the sand under my boots!”

“If your type is tall and red, we have no shortage here,” Sarqo says with a placid stare. 

“Are you offering, Sarqo?”

“I-”

“She’s fallen for the Hylian Hero!”

“I have not. I was making a joke.”

“I always knew you liked vai.”

“Not this vai. No offence, hero.”

“Who does have your heart, then?” Poyra asks with a grin.

Sarqo hides behind her drink. “None of _your_ business.”

Despite her aching chest, Link laughs. 

Before they part ways, she pulls them in for a picture. They’re wildly interested in this aspect of the slate. It takes another hour before Link is freed from their questions.

  
\---

  
“Well then, Prince Sidon,” Riju says, looking him up and down at the conclusion of their meeting. “It seems we have a deal. I will send gems your way, by merchant and warrior party, and you will lend us some Zora who know how to use magic. If we had stronger ways against the heat we could explore much more of the desert. With Ganon gone, I hope to reclaim our home in its entirety.”

The Zora Prince nods at her. It had been a fairly quick and simple conversation: The Gerudo needed better defences against the heat, and the Zora could enchant armor in ways the Gerudo couldn't; the Zora wanted gems, purely for aesthetic purposes, and the Gerudo had them in troves.

Bowing low, Sidon says, “Thank you for your time. It has been nothing but a pleasure. Your desert is truly striking, and I have only seen a small part of it.” He lifts himself back up. “Should you ever find yourself west, I would be honoured to welcome you to the Domain.”

“Although I cannot offer you the same pleasantry?”

The prince grins. “Traditions! Who would we be without them?” 

Riju folds her arms, infinitely amused by the voe before her. He’s nearly twice her height, towering and red and angular. He’s all muscle from his legs to his arms. The top of his head, pointed like an arrow, makes him look threatening. Especially with those teeth like daggers.

Yet he has been nothing but sweet, nothing but accommodating and even, if she’s allowed to presume, a bit shy.

Link had told her about Prince Sidon, once. He’d tamed Vah Ruta in the Zora Domain just before coming to Gerudo Town; he’d explained that the prince there had helped, and the smile that had spread across her face when she thought Riju was not looking had been… Obvious, to say the least.

Unable to help her curiosity, Riju asks, “What do you think of the Hylian Hero?”

The prince doesn’t show any outward sign of being affected. He merely smiles and replies, “He has been a perfect guide through Hyrule. I would surely not have made it on my own.” 

But Sidon, she knows, is over a hundred years old. He’s had a full century to practice formality in whatever royal goings on his species demand of him.

Riju says, “There are many here who wish to win her heart. I wonder if _she_ ,” here the Gerudo pauses, her gaze piercing up at yellow eyes, “has met anyone of interest in my city?” 

And yet the red giant before her merely blinks. Is he simple, or simply impervious to jealousy? Impervious to curiosity? Most people do not hear the pronouns, or pretend they don’t, especially if they are not used to the way someone like Link is (the guards had used them before their meeting had even begun, yet this Zora had not noticed). This she can understand. But that confused expression is too much. He _must_ realize he’s being baited.

Is this voe truly a leader of his people?

“I suppose he might have,” the Zora says, still smiling, lips pressed closed.

When he finally leaves, Riju feels as if she doesn’t like him very much at all. Likely on Link’s behalf. Not even a pout, not even a _hint_ of possessiveness, not even so much as a glint of sorrow at the prospect of someone else winning the hero’s heart. 

And Riju has no _reason_ to expect Sidon to care. She’s never talked to him before and shouldn’t expect to know his inner feelings.

But Link has been through so much at the hands of Hylia. She can’t help but want her affections returned. Riju wishes she could _demand_ it of the universe, though that would likely make the hero incredibly unhappy. 

On the way out of the tent, she hears a great ‘oof’ and turns to see the prince — nothing but graceful from the time he walked into meet with her — tripping over a bit of rope.

Ah. 

Nevermind, then.

Riju grins, walking over to help untangle the poor voe.

\---

Sidon apologizes as he unwraps the rope from his ankle, feeling embarrassed, but the Gerudo Chief and other warriors around him seem not to mind his blunder. He hopes they don’t assume he is clumsy! He is graceful, especially when he dives. Sidon would love to go for a good, long swim right now. Bury himself in the ocean.

He thanks them for their help, bows once more to the Chief, and then heads towards the bazaar.

Link had been in a hurry the moment they arrived outside the gates of Gerudo Town.

Was there someone waiting there for him? Is that what Chief Riju had been implying?

Is he _permitted_ inside the city, an exception made for the Hylian who saved the world?

It seems likely.

 _Both_ seem likely.

Sidon is surprised at how deflated such a fact leaves him. Although the setting sun is as hot as fire on his back, his insides are cold, and his hands feel empty. There’s a space at his side that has been constantly filled for a fortnight. A space on his lower back where a strong Hylian has pressed in, assurance given nonverbally.

There’s nothing, now. He thinks of Link somewhere inside these high city walls, held up and warm in someone’s bed, blue eyes trained on them as if they were the only-

If Link has found someone to love, then that is a _good_ thing. The Hylian has been through a great deal, may again be called upon by Hylia, and deserves whatever solace he can find. Sidon won’t be swayed by senseless jealousy. That is _not_ the kind of Zora he is.

It does not leave his body feeling any less cold, but this he can live with.

Sidon arrives at the market, but sees no sign of Link anywhere. He waits, sitting patiently with his legs in the water. 

An hour goes by. He watches as the sun sinks slowly behind the sand-clouded horizon, but Link never arrives.

If he does have a lover, it is no surprise he would take his time.

Sidon looks down at the water. He bites at the inside of his mouth, forcing his lips shut. His teeth slice into the soft skin inside. He forces himself to focus on the sounds of people selling their wares, the distant calls of hawks, and the cool water between his toes.

After another hour, his heart is too heavy and he stands up. There is still light in the sky, but half of it is dark blue. Early-evening stars are blinking into life above him. 

Perhaps they missed each other, or perhaps Link is in danger.

Both are equally unlikely: Sidon is impossible to miss out here, and Link handles danger as if it were an instrument he’d learned to play as a child. 

Still, Sidon can’t sit here any longer.

He browses the shops, talks with strangers, and buys himself some food. One shop has a few books of interest, some of which make him blush; there is one other book (which does not make him blush) that he looks at for a long while, until he decides on purchasing it. 

While he’s stared at quite a lot, no one seems to know he’s a prince, which suits him fine at the moment. 

When Sidon returns outside, it is fully night, and there’s no sign of a blond head anywhere.

The two guards he’d been speaking with before are standing by the inn and he makes his way over.

“Pardon me for the interruption, warriors. But have either of you any idea where Link may be?”

“I saw her in the city not an hour ago,” the taller of the two informs him, her tone stoic. “You will have to wait for her at the entrance, I’m afraid. But if you tell the guards why you’re there, they won’t mind.”

  
\---

  
Practically bouncing from one foot to the other, Link waits without patience outside of Isha’s shop.

“I can hear you pacing!” She shouts. “I am almost done, you silly vai. Your prince can wait another minute.”

Link will have to change before she gets to the bazaar, too, and it’s an hour past sunset. She doesn't want to make Sidon worry. She’d thought about sneaking out to tell him she’s running late, but the longer she put this off, the less sense it made to do.

“There! Take it. _Sa'oten_.”

The newly-made headpiece is placed in her hands, along with the old one. Link tucks these away and waves gratefully at Isha as she runs out of the city.

  
\---

  
Sidon waits outside Gerudo Town, feeling nervous — though there’s no need. Link will come out eventually. Not that Sidon thinks he’s special to Link only that… The Hero simply wouldn’t abandon _anyone_. He is too noble for that. And if he returns refreshed from someone's gentle hands, then that is surely all the better. They have had a long journey. 

The guards give him a few sideways glances, perhaps due to his expression, but otherwise ignore him. Sidon had explained who he was waiting for and they left it at that.

A few more long minutes pass, and then he sees blond hair at the city’s entrance.

Link runs out, wearing something silky and pale teal in colour. He doesn’t see Sidon, eyes trained down the sandy hill towards the bazaar.

“Link!”

Two blue eyes snap over to him, and immediately fill to the brim with fear.

Perplexed, Sidon walks over to where Link had frozen in his tracks.

“My apologies. I waited at the bazaar, but…” he trails off.

Link looks like a frightened deer. 

“Is everything alright, my friend? If you want to spend more time in the city, I can bide my time at the bazaar. I do not mind.” 

There’s no reply. Not by a shift in facial expression, by hand, or by voice. 

Sidon frowns down at him in confusion. The clothes he is wearing look breezy and cool. They’re more decorative than protective, but this makes sense if he spent the day inside the city.

Or with someone.

“What has you running so late?” Sidon asks, and immediately he regrets it. It had slipped out without his intent, pushed out by the sinking weight in his chest. 

Link’s mouth starts to move, and he relaxes his stance. 

“Can you just… not tell?” He asks. 

Sidon feels his mind falling further to confusion. “What?” 

“Sidon, I’m-”

“Link!” A Gerudo woman comes running out of the front entrance, her voice alight with panic. “Lizalfos— They took her. My daughter, Shamal,” she says, panting with fear and effort. “Kaipo returned. She _saw_ them. She’s in the palace, hurt and I can’t fight lizalfos. They’re sending out a search party but—”

Link takes her hand, holding it, and then she nods. “I’ll go get her.”

“Sarqso anu’grah,” the Gerudo says, the two words coming out with tears. “You are a woman to be relied on. I can give you these elixirs," she says, doing so with unsteady hands. "Please bring her home safely, Link.”

Blue eyes look over and up at Sidon, and the Zora meets them with a nod. 

“Do you know which way they went?” Link asks.

“West, towards the Tho Kayu Shrine.”

  
\---

  
Link doesn’t bother with changing her clothes. There’s no time, and she’s good with a shield anyway. 

With Sidon beside her, they run into the desert. Without the desert boots she moves slow, _way_ too slow, and pushes her muscles to carry her faster.

Without a word Sidon scoops her up. He sets her on his shoulders, still running, claws digging into sand.

“This will be quicker,” Sidon says. “Can you see anything?”

Link pulls out her slate, looking through the lens, holding onto the Zora with her thighs.

“I see them,” she says. “Ten kilometers straight ahead. I think—” Her heart drops and she doesn’t finish.

“What?” Sidon asks.

Looking at a swell of electric light through the slate, Link doesn’t reply.

  
\---

  
They reach the lizalfo lair in a matter of minutes. These feel like impossibly long minutes to Link, but she hears frantic screaming which means Isha’s daughter is still alive. Means they have time.

Lizalfos normally gather in buildings they craft from wood and bones, but this lair is different. They’ve dug holes through the face of a towering cliff. It looks like a giant beehive made of solid stone.

No— they couldn't. Lizalfos don’t have claws strong enough to dig tunnels through rock. This network of catacombs belonged to something else, once, and they've just taken over. There are scattered metal parts all around the area outside the catacombs. Gigantic planks, heavy slabs, thin wiring, and long beams. It looks like it was once some sort of mine.

Bright shocks of electricity explode inside the beehive-like cliff, lights flashing through each small opening.

Link slips off of Sidon’s shoulders and down his back, landing on the sand.

Another flash of electric light zaps through the catacombs in front of them. In the dark of the desert, it highlights the tall Zora in front of her, casting half of him in shadow.

“Sidon—”

“We are going in together.”

“You won’t fit.”

“I will _break_ my way in.”

Link’s heart shoots up into her mouth. He really will. He absolutely will. Sidon would do anything to help.

_I am not someone you need to protect._

“Sidon.” Link pulls out the slate, switching the settings to its stasis ability. “I’m sorry,” she says.

“What-”

She freezes Sidon solid with the press of one finger. Skirting around him in quick steps, Link grabs at one metal chain, which is tied to some larger metal plating. She bends it around his ankle, using magnesis to make it impossibly tight. She doesnt stop until it’s tied like a shackle. She feels sick doing it but the cold snap of electricity behind her steels her resolve.

Sidon can hate her for this. That’s fine.

As long as he’s _alive_ to hate her, then she won’t regret a thing.

Before the stasis can wear off, Link slips in through one of the small openings, disappearing into the lizalfo lair.

  
\---

  
Sidon snaps out of paralysis with a gasping breath. He’s disorientated for a moment until the rush of remembering comes to him and he makes to run—

Only to be jerked to a halt by his foot.

He looks down with wide eyes, and sees that he’s tied by a metal chain to a slab of metal the size of a house. Half of it is buried in the sand.

His spear is missing, too.

“Link!” He shouts uselessly, tugging at the makeshift restraint on his ankle. He yanks at the contorted metal, made tight by Link’s slate, but the chain does not yield. Sidon tries to cut through it with his claws but only succeeds in breaking one claw clean off. Blue blood drips down over the shackle as he frantically tugs at it again, but this only makes it wet, and his large fingers slip uselessly, unable to grip. “ _Link!!_ ” He shouts again at the sky-high wall of the catacombs. The cry scrapes the inside of his throat. His voice is as dry as the sand around him.

The only response is a bright, angry flash of electric light.

  
\---

  
Link drops to the floor of the lair with a grunt. The electric sword is heavy, but she's glad for it. Following the screams — Isha’s daughter’s — Link slinks her way down a long corridor. This was definitely some sort of old mine. There are wooden carts and broken metal tracks along the path in front of her.

She pulls out her sword, slinking slowly across a rock wall.

It doesn't take her long to find the lizalfos. They’re gathered in a large opening in the tunnel, Shamal tied up and tossed against a stone wall. The screaming had died down a few minutes ago. She must have passed out.

Quiet as she can, Link creeps near the entrance to the room. There are holes all along the spherical walls, sort of like windows though they don’t lead to the outside.

There are two ways to do this: sneak up and kill them one by one, or charge in. Link doesn’t actually think about the first option — she hikes her sword up and runs in roaring. She thrashes lizalfos left and right, throwing them with her sword, blowing them up with her bombs, and scorching them with fire arrows. They screech and holler but keep coming back. Her blade sings with electricity as she stabs through their scaled flesh. 

Blue eyes are wide and intent, and her heart races each time she hears the _smack!_ of a heavy reptile body against rock.

If nothing else, it’s good stress relief. Cathartic. Helps her not think about what Sidon’s going to say when she gets back out there.

She feels it, too late. A slight snag on her hair. A lizalfo claw digs into her shoulders and yanks. 

Before Link knows it she’s flying backwards. She hits the rock wall with a dull _smack!_ of her own, her unprotected head cracking against rock. No amour to dampen the blow.

She doesn't pass out, but everything goes blurry, and when she stands again her knees are wobbly with the aftershock. 

Still, the lizards keep coming.

  
\---

  
Sidon hears the Gerudo warriors coming, their boots padding over the sand. He shouts and waves as they get nearer to him.

“Where’s Link?”

“Inside,” Sidon says as Dorrah breaks the make-shift shackle with a perfect strike of her spear. “Thank you.”

“Wait-”

Sidon doesn't waste any time. He raises his clawed hand back, the one still bleeding because it is the stronger arm of the two, and breaks through solid rock with a feral growl. 

It crumbles apart, weak in the spaces between the holes. He grabs the top ledge of the opening he’d made, throwing himself feet-first into the catacombs, ignoring the shouts of the warriors behind him.

  
\---

 _  
Should’ve worn a helmet_ , Link thinks to herself, picturing her heavy armour all the way back in Hateno Village. Too late for that now.

She grips her sword, her head still spinning. She’d downed a stamina potion, but it doesn’t do much more than make the dizziness louder.

She doesn't need to kill all these lizalfos, she only needs to grab Isha’s daughter and run. She looks around for anything metal to drop on the monsters, for anything that might explode, for anything at all…

They begin to close in on her, creeping like growing vines.

Then they charge in all at once, flanking her in every direction except behind her where the wall is. She tightens her grip on the hilt of her sword. Looks like she’s dealing with them head on; likes it better this way anyway.

She raises to strike in a sweeping semicircle, readying to hit as many as she can.

But her feet leave the floor.

Link gasps, eyes wide, and she’s pulled backwards. The lizalfos and Isha’s daughter disappear from her sight. She’s pulled _into_ the wall, through one of the small openings behind her.

She feels the press of familiar claws against her shoulders.

No. No no no _no_. How? He can't, _he can't–_

“Si―”

The Zora looks angry. His pupils are pulled into narrow slits, brow drawn down towards the center of his eyes, all his angels dark and somehow sharper. He looks angrier than Link thought he could be, which she had expected but still seems wildly unbelievable.

Sidon is sat with his back pressed into a wall that curves overhead, cramped into a small space. Link stands, knees shaking from blood loss and now fear. Although she’s looking up at Sidon, the low ceiling of the small corridor means they are practically nose-to-nose.

“You can’t be here,” Link starts, the words breathless, disbelieving what's right in front of her, not _wanting_ to believe it, “ _One_ _hit_ and–”

Sidon frowns down at her, his head and upper back crammed up against the ceiling. “You do _not_ get to decide–”

“I’m supposed to keep you safe!” She shouts, the sound exploding out in a way her throat is not used to, not at all, “That’s my _job_! That’s–”

“Link, you are the most stubborn Hylian I have _ever_ –”

“You need to get out of here. _Please_ , Sidon.”

“ _You_ need to trust me.”

“I do! I _don’t_ trust the horde of lizalfos!”

“You tied me up like–”

“I don’t want you to die, I couldn’t live with–”

“It is _not_ –”

“Sidon!” She feels hot tears at the corners of her eyes, deflates from fear and exhaustion. Link takes a shuddering slow breath. “You can't ask me not to protect you. It’s all I know how to _do_.”

\---

Sidon watches the water swell in Link’s eyes. He remembers wondering if the hero ever cried, during all his long quest, and does not want to have that answered now.

“I know,” the Zora says, lowering his voice. He does not want to fight. Not when they are both simply trying to protect one another. “That’s who you are. I know.” Sidon wipes tears from blue eyes with the tips of his fingers. “But you cannot ask me to sit by idly and be protected. If you go wandering into danger, then I will be right behind you.”

A warm cheek presses into Sidon’s hand, the action full of weariness. “How did you get out?” Link asks.

“The warriors. But I had considered cutting my own foot off.”

He’s given a wide-eyed look.

“Tie me up again, and you will find out for sure.” 

“Stay here,” Link says, gripping at his hand, fingers around a red thumb, “Stay right here, and I promise I’ll never leave you behind again.”

“You—” Sidon grins down at the Hylian, not a happy one, but not an angry one either. Maybe a little manic. It has been a _long_ day. “You are a terrible liar, Link. Now let’s go. _I_ have a plan, this time.”

  
\---

  
Probably because the back of her head is leaking blood in pints, Link nods in agreement. She wants to lock Sidon down again but there's no metal in here to work with, and if she left him here she'd be leaving him right in the middle of all of the danger.

If she gets the chance, she will absolutely eject him from these catacombs. Any opportunity to get Sidon as far away from lightning as fast as possible. 

Link slips slowly back into the room where Isha’s daughter is being held. The ten lizalfos are still there, and they all lock eyes on her the moment Link lands. She downs a stamina potion quickly, and then sets her feet wide apart, ready.

Running down the corridor that outlines this central room, Sidon reaches through holes to hold lizalfos still, and Link charges in for the kill, dodging other attacks as she moves. This is the only version of the plan she agreed to. The one where Sidon keeps a three-foot wall of solid rock between himself and anything electric.

They do this until there are only two lizalfos left. By how they’ve figured out to stay away from the holes in the walls, but Link can handle two, even with a gaping head wound.

On the other side of the room, she sees Sidon slip through a larger hole and into the main floor.

Her blood runs cold but she doesn't shout or react at all. If she did, the beasts would turn around and see the giant red _idiot_ risking his life to save a complete stranger. Link squares her shoulders and stays focused on the lizalfos. She can be mad at Sidon later.

They raise their own weapons at her, electric light snapping.

And then someone screams.

Isha's daughter, woken up by someone trying to lift her, looks at the face of what she can only assume is a monster. 

To Link’s horror both of the remaining two lizalfos turn around and take aim at Isha’s daughter. Sidon tries to lift her up but she's a Gerudo woman and she kicks him away, muscles a match for his own. 

Left with no other choice, Sidon stands up tall, a clear red target for the beasts to attack.

Link doesn’t think about it. She drops her sword and her shield to the ground with a clatter. Her breathing stops as she bursts into a run, shoes scraping on the rock floor, grinding over grains of sand.

She takes the heat of the lightning from the lizalfos’ attack with a groan that unfolds into a thundering scream, and then all that light and heat turns to blackness. The very last thing she hears is a familiar voice shouting her name. And even though her body is lit up in bright pain, she sighs as she passes out.

* * *

The next time Link wakes up, he’s inside Riju’s throne room, lying on a soft daybed. He blinks in half-conciseness, the red and gold colour mixing together with barely-there sunlight. It takes him a long while to realize he’s not still inside those catacombs.

His head is screaming at him. 

Lifting up an arm, Link sees that someone changed his clothes. Something sky-blue and silky. Feminine. Being dressed as a man when he doesn’t _feel_ like a man makes his skin crawl, but the opposite never seems to bother him. Link drops his arms and closes his eyes again.

What happened?

Where’s Sidon?

Head spinning, he sits up, swinging his legs onto the floor. He needs to—

“Don’t you think about it,” a stern voice says. 

Isha is standing next to the daybed he’s lying on, hands on her hips. 

“Lie back down, Link. Now.”

He grips at the edge of the bed. “Where’s–”

“Your Zora is fine, and my daughter is fine. _Lie down_.”

Having no more reason to argue, Link does as he’s told. He’s learned it’s better not to argue with Isha.

A cool cloth is placed on his head.

“Thanks.” He moves his hands to sign at her, but remembers she won’t understand any of the symbols he and Sidon made up. Instead he asks it out loud. “What happened?”

“You’ve been passed out for ten hours,” she says. “You gave us all a good scare.” She pesses the cloth into his forehead, up near his hairline. It calms his headache. “Your prince came running to the front gate with my daughter on his back and you in his arms, Riju’s entire guard behind. What a sight!” Isha stops and sets a hand on his head, holding it with the love he can only assume mothers have. “Thank you for saving my daughter, samkír. I’m sorry to have put you through this.”

Link waves a hand casually at her. It’s nothing.

  
\---

  
Standing outside the walls of Gerudo Town, Sidon waits. From this hidden position around the back, near the palace, he’d been receiving regular updates on Link’s varying condition. Isha had run back and forth all night, her red head peeking up along the top of the wall to yell information at him.

She had been very frank about it. Yelling things like ‘His heart stopped again!’ and ‘He’s breathing well!’ with the same amount of care.

By early morning, she popped up with a wide smile and said, ‘He’s fine!’ and Sidon had collapsed onto the sand in a heap.

That had been six hours ago. Since learning that Link was no longer in danger of dying, Sidon has tried to go for a walk, busy himself at the bazaar, but…

His feet simply bring him back to this wall.

  
\---

  
“Link,” Isha says, wringing out the cloth and reapplying it to his head. “I believe I owe you a favour. A pretty big one.”

He cracks one eye open at her.

“You feel up for some company, ārya?”

  
\---

  
Sidon leans back against the wall of the city, looking up at the cloudless blue sky. He breathes out a shaking breath. Not ever in his life did he expect to feel so…

“Prince Sidon!”

A red head pops into his view. Isha is leaning over the top of the wall once again, waving down at him.

“Hello!” he calls back. “Is everything still alright?”

“Yes, yes.” She disappears for a moment, but returns with something in her hands. “Grab this!”

A rope.

Sidon blinks at it where it hangs down the side of the stone wall. Men, or ‘voe’ as he’s learned the Gerudo call them, are not allowed in the sacred city. As a prince of a different nation he _cannot_ break this most sacred custom.

“I…”

“I asked Riju!” Isha shouts. “I told her the Hero of Hyrule should be allowed some leniency in light of her past and current endeavors to help the Gerudo! Riju agreed, but we can't let _anyone_ see you. So hurry up, asi!!”

  
\---

  
Link wakes up again an hour later, his head still feeling foggy. He doesn’t open his eyes. Wonders why he's passing out so often, lately, but knows the reason. The afternoon light stings even with his eyes shut and he scrunches his brow.

Thinking back on everything, he wonders, not for the first time, about his sanity. He’d tied Sidon up in the middle of the desert just to keep him away. His heart roared with the thrill while he’d slain lizalfos. He’d enjoyed the rush of it all.

_Why else would I want war?_

His own words haunt him, crawling in and out of his mind’s ears like bugs. Link throws an arm over his eyes and he sighs deeply.

_Sidon, you can't ask me not to protect you. It’s all I know how to do._

_I know. That’s who you are. I know._

He feels water well up in his eyes, and if any of it falls, no one’s around to see.

  
\---

  
“Quiet,” Isha says loudly, scanning the hallway in front of them.

Sidon, for his part, does not say a word.

“She’s just in here. You’ve got an hour before Hajar comes back to check on her.” 

Hajar is the best doctor in the city, Isha had informed Sidon last night. 

She gives him a shove which he is wholly unused to. “Go on, you’re clear.”

He sets a clawed hand on the large door and slowly pushes it open.

  
\---

  
Link hears the hinges of the door creak, but doesn't move. It’s Isha coming back to check on him, or the doctor. Still, he welcomes the distraction. Squeezing his eyes shut tight under his arms, Link fights back any remaining tears. 

Footsteps pad across the floor. Heavy-set. Bare. The clear clacking of claws.

Link opens his eyes, sitting up so fast his hair flies into his face. 

Sidon is standing in the middle of Riju’s throne room, practically glowing in the afternoon sun, and looking sheepish. 

“How are you feeling?” Sidon asks after a long silence, feet bringing him slowly the rest of the way into the room.

Link can only stare. He opens his mouth, closes it, fingers at the soft blankets underneath him, and then opens his mouth again. “Sidon, how…”

“Your friend Isha let me in. She claimed Riju has permitted such an action. I do not know if I believe her, but I…” He lifts and drops his hands like he doesn’t know what to do with them. “I wanted to see you.” 

Link nods once, his throat going dry. 

They stay there in an awkward silence, Sidon standing next to the daybed and Link sitting up straight and still and stunned.

“Link.” Sidon’s voice lacks all of its usual candour. It falls to pieces on his name, cracked through with feeling. “Are you alright? You were… black. I thought-- I was sure you…”

Link reaches up and tugs Sidon down onto the daybed with him, glad for its large size. Once Sidon is sitting, he lets go of his hands, but only so he can speak.

 _I’m sorry_ , he signs, a hand placed perpendicular over his sternum. He leaves it there. “I can’t…” He wishes he could say everything he wanted to with his hands, especially when it’s complicated like this. Yellow eyes bore down on him, and Link has to close his own or he’ll never get his mouth to work.

“Sidon, I can’t… When it’s lightning, with you, I’m… I can’t help it.”

“I did notice you lose all sense of rationality.”

Link opens his eyes, meaning to glare half-heartedly, but when he looks all he sees are a row of beautiful sharp teeth. Sidon is smiling at him. His eyes are wet, even though he’s trying to tease Link, and his shoulders shake slightly.

He’s beautiful.

Link closes his eyes again. “I…”

“May I hold you?”

He snaps his eyes back open, heart thudding once and stopping his breath. 

“Sorry,” Sidon starts, the word breaking apart at its end. He recoils his hands far away from Link. “You nearly died. You will have to excuse me if I say anything overly sentimental― oh.”

Link had given up whatever reason he’d been holding himself back, can’t remember in the haze filling his skull. He crawls up into the Zora's lap, nearly climbing him. Every muscle in his body screams for Link to sit back down and stop moving, but he’s not about to start listening now.

He drapes himself over the upper half of Sidon’s body, grabbing as much of him as he can fit in his arms, hugging over one shoulder and under the opposite.

Sidon lifts him up by his lower back, holding him up so Link can reach around his neck instead. Uncaring of any implications, Link tucks his head underneath one of his fins, pressing himself against the side of a white throat, breathing in the fresh scent of ozone.

He curls in on the Zora, pulling Sidon against his chest tighter, trying to hold all of him even though it’s impossible.

Link doesn’t care. If Sidon needs it, he’ll hold all of him.

“You’re so strong,” Sidon says, his voice full of water, “I _know_ you are, and I believe in you, Link, but you can’t expect me not to worry. Not to want to help you.”

Link shakes his head. He shifts his legs, uncomfortable with his knees scrunched up against Sidon’s abdomen. Giving in, he lets them part. If Sidon doesn’t like it he can literally pick Link up and put him back down on the daybed like he’s nothing more than a pillow.

But large hands on his back only move to pull him in closer. 

“I’m sorry,” Link breathes into a white neck. “It’s not on purpose.”

“I don’t suppose I can ask you to promise never to do that again?” 

The hands at his back pull him up higher, and Link wraps his arms fully around Sidon’s neck, knees around his ribs.

He wants to kiss his skin. Link wants to kiss it so badly he’s dizzy with the compulsion. But the memory of Sidon walking stiffly through the desert, ten feet away from him, flashes in his mind. He shouldn’t even be...

Link shakes his head. 

“I did not expect so.” The Zora sighs, and Link feels the air from his gills all over the hairs on his bare legs. 

“Just lightning,” Link says, “Everything else— I promise I won’t do it.”

Sidon laughs once, the sound deep in his chest. It rumbles against Link’s whole body. He sighs out a breath of his own, relief or bliss he doesn’t know, can’t tell with his senses alight like this.

“Did you fight the last two on your own?” Link asks. It's a question he’s been dreading.

Sidon shifts on the daybed to rest his back easier, moving Link’s entire body with him. One single hand takes up the full width of his back. Two hands take up more than that. Link feels more than held, he feels...

“I did.”

Link’s knees are weak, but his hands grip at Sidon’s neck in anger. “I should’ve _attacked_ them. I wasn’t sure if I’d get both in time.”

“I can handle a few lizalfos. They are numerous in the Domain.”

Link flexes his fingers against Sidon’s neck.

He’s going to go to the Zora’s Domain and chase them all out. That’s the very next thing he’ll do once they get back.

“They will simply return, even if you kill them all.”

Link starts. He hadn’t realized he’d said anything out loud. “Are you alright?” he asks. His vision blurs, but he just closes his eyes against Sidon’s neck again. “Nothing happened?”

“You have seen me fight many times by now. I did away with them with that sword of yours—”

Link goes rigid. He pulls himself away from Sidon to look down at him, has to lean far back to see his whole face. He can’t say what his own expression might look like. Angery, confused, horror struck.

“I only touched the hilt,” Sidon says. “Oh, I wasn’t going to tell you at all. You have a way of pulling words from my mouth.”

Link frowns.

“I did not have my spear. What should I have done? Asked them politely to leave?”

Link continues to frown.

“You have no right to be upset with me, Link. _You_ are the one who shackled me to a piece of scrap metal in the middle of the desert and then jumped into a lizalfo den all on your own.”

He doesn't comment.

It should be more sensual, his hips and stomach pressed up against Sidon’s upper abdomen and chest like this. But Link’s tired, and his head has a huge swell on it from where he’d hit the catacomb wall, and his brain feels full of feathers.

Silence overtakes them. Sidon’s hands move on his back, pressing into the spot where it curves in, covering his lower back completely. The claws push at his skin, too, bare because Sidon’s hands keep pushing Link’s shirt up, though unintentionally. 

Sidon clears his throat. “There is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about.” 

Link can only stare; he just sees yellow and teeth that blur together the longer he looks.

“I must confess, I do not know how to ask you. You’ve never said anything and I don’t want to… I’d never want to make you uncomfortable.” 

Link’s gaze drops down to Sidon’s mouth, as his heart races against his ribs. 

“Do you… Is there perhaps something about you I have gotten wrong?” There’s a long pause. “Everyone in this city calls you a woman.”

Oh.

Suddenly, Link wants to be as far away from Sidon as he can get. He’s not shy about it — it’s just that it’s _weird_. Just like wanting to fight, it’s something that makes him… different, and not in a good way. He’s never met anyone else who does it. No one else in all of Hyrule who wakes up some mornings feeling like a different gender. 

Link runs a hand through his hair, and hisses when he gets too close to the lump.

“Careful,” Sidon says, rubbing at his back. “Isha said you may feel dizzy. We do not need to talk about this now.”

Link shakes his head. This rattles his brain around and he sees double for a long moment. Giving up holding himself up — he can't have this conversation staring directly at Sidon anyway — Link sets his forehead against a large shoulder, curling himself around it. His hair falls over his cheeks and face, and he closes his eyes against warm skin.

“I had to dress up like a woman to sneak in. For Vah Naboris.” Link pauses, reorganizes his words in his head, and then they come out a mess anyway. “It didn’t feel like a disguise.”

“You are a woman?”

Link starts to shake his head, fringe rubbing against Sidon’s shoulder — but stops. That’s not right, either.

“Sometimes,” he says.

“Only when you must sneak into Gerudo Town?”

“No.” 

Sidon is quiet, and absently one clawed hand trails up his spine, under his shirt. Link shivers. 

“Truthfully, Link… I often cannot tell the difference between Hylian women and men. Zora do not have such clear lines, and some do not prescribe to one or the other at all. Our clothing, too, is not dependant on our status.”

Link does remember walking through the palace for the first time and seeing a few Zora he couldn't discern.

“I wasn’t sure of your gender when I first saw you. I simply spotted you walking across the Inogo Bridge, twigs in your hair and covered in bokoblin blood and thought — ah yes, this Hylian will likely help us vanquish an ancient divine beast overrun with calamity. They look a bit wild.”

Link snorts out a single soft laugh at the description, the sound vibrating against Sidon’s shoulder. He’d been on his fifteenth day without stopping at any town or even a stable, sleeping in trees and eating raw mushrooms to stay alive. 

“I feel like a man most of the time,” Link says, rolling his forehead up further against Sidon to free his mouth from red skin. “Hylians don’t do… whatever this is. This is the only place where anyone will call me ‘vai.’”

“You can do it with me as well.” 

Link’s hands, set weakly somewhere between their chests, twitch.

“As I said, Zora are helpless at Hylian gender, I will require a great deal of coaching. But, Link.” Sidon’s mouth is in his hair suddenly; Link’s head spins. “I have never been more myself than when I am with you. Please let me return that in kind.”

“It’s okay,” he says, shaking his head against Sidon’s shoulder, “I can come here whenever I want.”

“Link—” 

“I’ve never told anyone, except Riju. So… it’s—” 

“It doesn’t bother me. If this is you, part of you, then I—” 

“I _know_ it’s weird,” he cuts the Zora off, lifting away from his shoulder, glaring down at blue and yellow fins. Frustration flowers through his tone, growing like a weed as he continues, “It’s just like how I want Ganon to come back. There’s something _wrong_ with me. No one else is like this. Everyone else is enjoying the peace and they _don't_ _change their gender_ and _I_ go out looking for fights and dressing like a woman—” 

Link takes a gasping breath, and then his voice dies. Along with that he falls completely against Sidon again. His heachade is back in full force. Normally an injury doesn't knock him off his feet like this, at _all_ , but violent electrocution and head trauma seem to have done the trick. 

“Sorry,” he says weakly, closing his eyes against the red skin of Sidon’s shoulder, feeling the blue-and-yellow fins against his eyelashes. He never meant to dump so many of his feelings on anyone. Sidon said Link pulls words out of him but Link is sure it’s the other way around.

The Zora pushes him up and away from his shoulder, the motion abrupt and jarring. Link has to press his hands into a white chest to hold himself up straight.

“I must apologize, dear friend. You are spent and I am being selfish, asking you all of this.” Sidon smiles up at him, all jagged teeth, and then claws are in Link’s hair, making his eyes flutter for a delirious moment. “But allow me to say once again that there is nothing wrong with you. If you are a woman sometimes, I would honour the privilege of addressing you as such.”

Weak from vertigo and physical trauma, Link lifts his hand from Sidon’s chest and touches the red crest of his head. He rubs at the point with his palm. It’s smooth and tough, like hard cartilage, and lined with those spots he still doesn’t know the purpose of. Link glides his flat palm down to Sidon’s jaw, holding it securely. He tilts Sidon’s head up. He’s so dizzy those yellow eyes double, but Link can still tell where his white mouth is. 

Behind them, the door creaks.

“Link!” Isha stutters when she sees them, but gathers herself quickly. “I’m sorry, but Hajar is on her way. We need to go.”

“Sidon.” Link sighs in frustration, frowning down at one of Sidon’s hands, already passing out again. “Your claw...”

Eyes wide with shock, Sidon catches a limp Hylian in his arms. 


	5. Gerudo Town - Zora's Domain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing a [Ghiralink fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23918839/chapters/57515230/) if anyone's down. 👀 It's... wholesome. As wholesome as Ghirahim gets, anyway. 
> 
> Most of you aren't here for that, though. Enjoy the chapter! Or don't! I don't know what happens!! nothing happens.

* * *

It’s a day and a half later when Link opens his eyes again. This time he wakes up to the smell of food: fresh fruit and what can only be Gerudo cheese. He sits up, holding a hand against his forehead. Link has been knocked around before. He’s been cracked across the jaw, thrown into walls, lit on fire, frozen solid, stomped on, practically gutted, and about a hundred other abuses. But he’s never felt even half as out of it as he has the past few days, lying on this daybed in Riju’s throne room.

Maybe because he didn’t have any armor on, or maybe a bleeding head wound laced with coursing lighting had cracked something apart inside his brain for awhile. Whatever the reason, Link never wants to go through it again.

Frowning down at his hands, he flexes his fingers into a claw shape. He’s not sure if Sidon had really been in here, or if he’d been vividly hallucinating. There’s no way he could’ve snuck in around the guards. But Isha had said she’d owed him a favour, ‘a pretty big one at that,’ and Link is sure he’d seen her leave with a heavy-duty rope in her arms.

Sighing through his nose, he runs a hand through his hair. If the Zora _was_ here, Link can’t remember everything. Only bits and pieces of conversation and actions, disjointed and fuzzy. How did he end up in Sidon’s lap?

“Link.”

Riju’s calm voice breaks him from his thoughts. Link looks up, seeing the fruit on the table next to him for the first time. Riju is standing at the tall golden double doors, the entrance to her throne room.

He waves a hand at her. Smiling, Riju walks across the room and stands in front of him, folding her arms.

“How are you feeling, samkír? Hajar said you were _rand’hir umada_.”

Link tilts his head.

“Hmm... I believe the translation is, ‘drunk with punches,’” she says, a finger poking into her chin in thought. “Sometimes, when a warrior is hit in the head too often or too hard, they become sluggish, as if their brains are soaked with alcohol. It can last for months.” Riju shifts on her feet, setting her weight on her other hip. Her long red hair sways with the action. “Have you never experienced it before?”

Link shakes his head.

Riju snorts. “Must be your thick skull.”

He rolls his eyes at her, wants to say _You’re one to talk_ but his mouth won’t move. He can’t even seem to open it.

“Your Zora has been pacing my walls like a menace,” the Gerudo Chief says, looking at Link as if it were his fault. “He has asked after you – he has brought you food, though I told him – _personally_ – that we have food enough for you here.” She raises her red brow at him, looking down her nose. “Tell me, Link. Have we a future union between Hylians and Zora to look forward to?”

Link looks at his hands again, but offers no reply.

“Ah.” She nods at him; Riju knows him well enough to know he can’t talk sometimes. Humming in thought, she sets a finger on her chin again. “Your prince seems very… simple, and I don’t mean unintelligent. Sometimes a rose is only a rose, not a deep metaphor for love, and I think Prince Sidon is the embodiment of that statement.

“Some people are exactly as they seem. How refreshing that must be for you, whose past is nothing but mystery?” She pauses to take a look at his face. “Or have you not thought about this?” She grins at his blank expression. “Someone direct, someone honest to a fault, someone who would not even let a _god_ make him do what he did not think was right. I wonder how you – a Hylian thrown out of time, whose life is controlled entirely by a goddess – could have fallen for that?”

Link stares at Riju as she begins pacing in front of the daybed he’s sat on.

“On top of this,” she continues, talking with one hand as she walks, “he is clearly _obsessed_ with taking care of you. _You_ , Princess Zelda’s most favourite knight, the Hero of all of Hyrule, who always protects everyone else... I wonder how it must feel being the one protected?” She stops in her tracks to glance back at him again. “Oh Link, ārya, you’re turning red, _look_ at you.”

Link rubs the heels of his hands into his eyes. Did she come here just to tease him? He’d never really asked himself _why_ he liked Sidon.

Riju walks back towards him, and she sets a hand on his shoulder. “All this introspection could be nonsense, I’m only telling you what I see.” She smiles at his annoyed glare. “He’s charming and sweet besides. I am very happy for you, of course.”

Link shakes his head. He tries to tell her that there’s nothing to be happy about, but his tongue feels like a stone in his mouth. He wishes he could use his hands.

“Link.” His back twitches at the sharp tone in her voice. “You can not expect me to believe there’s nothing… Oh Goddess of the Sand.” Riju stares down at him. Her eyes feel like the heat-seeking lasers of a guardian. “I am going to make the absolutely wild assumption that you have not told him, directly, how you feel.”

Link doesn’t reply, but knows she’ll take that as affirmation.

“Why not? Because you are both voe?” She catches herself, “Ah. Most of the time, anyway. Sorry.”

He shakes his head, both at the apology and the question.

“I hope you have no ridiculous notions about being different species. Gerudo copulate by nature with other races, so to think _yourself_ wrong for liking a Zora means you think _we_ are all wrong too.”

He shakes his head again.

“Do you feel some moral obligation as the Hylian Hero to stay close to your Princess?”

Link sets a hand over his heart and spreads his fingers.

Dropping his hand back on to his lap, he shakes his head.

“Then, what?”

Sidon standing uncomfortable and ten full feet away from him flashes in his mind. The stiff set of his usually-proud shoulders. The nervous twinge in his eyes. The way his smile had been small and, worse than that, forced.

Link shrugs.

Riju sighs longly at him. “There is no shame in unrequited love, if that is what you think this is. You can tell him without expecting anything in return.” She moves a lock of hair out of his eyes. Just to annoy her, Link blows it back with a puff of air.

Riju snorts at him, but doesn’t play along.

“Anyway, Hajar says you’re free to go. As always, samkír, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” she says, tugging at one long strand of hair in front of his ear with a smile. “We are forever grateful to have a sister such as you.”

  
\---

  
As Riju had said, Sidon is waiting for him at the city’s front entrance. Link wonders if the greying skin under his eyes means he’s tired, but doesn’t have it in him to ask.

“I can send my warriors now, you know,” Riju says from inside the city, standing under the main archway. She looks at her nails as she speaks, leaning against the sun-bleached stone walls of her city. “They could escort you back to your Domain.” She snaps her emerald eyes up at the Zora.

Link goes rigid, but keeps his gaze straight ahead on Riju.

Beside him, he hears the shift of a ten foot tall frame bowing.

“A most generous offer,” Sidon says.

Riju smiles, folds her arms, and looks back and forth between the two of them. “Shall I, then?”

That would make sense. An armored guard escorting a prince home would make sense. Riju is going to send them to the Domain anyway, with the gems they’d agreed to trade. A troop of Gerudo Warriors would be more than enough protection.

 _I’m taking him_ , Link tries to say with every ounce of his body, fighting to connect his mind and mouth.

“However...” Sidon trails off, his head still faced down towards the sand, “The Hylian Princess has been generous enough to loan out her most trusted knight, and to send him away now would be…” he trails off, finishing the sentiment by bowing lower instead, before rising back up fully.

“Ah.” Riju unfolds her arms and lifts herself off the wall. Her crown flickers in the glaring sun. Against white stone walls of Gerudo Town, her jewel-coloured clothes seem to jump out at Link. “Right you are, Prince Sidon.” She smiles, a small, pleased smirk. Then she walks towards the two of them.

Riju places one hand on Link’s shoulder, the other just above Sidon’s elbow. “May the sand be strong under your feet, svaka, and the sun ever blaring in your hearts.”

  
\---

  
Riju watches them leave her city side-by-side. It’s an odd sight: The top of a blond head barely reaches the place above a red elbow, just under those strange gills. The colours clash, as well. Link’s voe clothes had been dyed violette, and the Prince is largely red, wearing sparse silver armor inlaid with deep blue sapphire. Yet the clash doesn’t seem to matter. Nor does the height.

When they walk away, side by side, she realizes there is _no_ escort underway. At least not right now. That is not how a knight leads her charge.

Still, she thinks to herself as she turns back towards her city, she might dye Link’s clothes a nice cyan the next time the hero comes by.

  
\---

  
Once they’re away from the front gates, Link feels a hand on his shoulder. He tenses – not sure what to expect. He feels better than he has in days, no more thick lightheadedness. But he’s afraid of what the Zora might say.

He feels bad for it immediately. When he turns to look up at him, Sidon’s expression is nothing but concerned.

“I must apologize,” he says.

Link tilts his head.

“There is a great deal of diplomacy required to refuse an offer from a foreign ruler. I hope you will forgive me for my words.”

Link holds his hands out, palm-up and shoulder length apart, asking _What do you mean?_

“I referred to you as an item to be loaned out,” Sidon says, teeth barely poking out between downturned lips. “Please believe me when I tell you I do not see you that way.”

Is that all? Link shakes his head with a small shrug. When Sidon doesn’t look any less sorry, he brings a hand up over his heart, fingers spread and shoulders squared.

“I still do not know what that means,” the Zora says.

But the tension around his eyes is gone, and Link drops the stance with an easy smile. He’s given one in return, though Sidon’s is a little perplexed, but it’s full and it’s real and he can see all of his teeth. Needing to look somewhere else, Link’s eyes fall down towards the sand. But they see something else along the way.

Reaching out, he takes a large white palm in both of his hands, his mouth falling open soundlessly. Link looks at the broken opaque claw. Had he noticed it before? In Riju’s throne room? Or…

“It will grow back,” Sidon says. The sound of his voice calls Link’s gaze up to meet his eyes. It doesn’t take him long to figure out what happened, why it’s broken, and he feels sick.

Unable to voice it, unable to even figure it out in his own head, Link looks back down at the hand he’s holding. The pads of his fingers and palms are wide. Link swipes a thumb down one heavy line, watching the way white skin compresses, the crease of Sidon’s hand pulling his gaze in deeply.

“Are you certain you are alright?” the Zora asks.

Link looks at the broken claw again, and then he lets go of Sidon’s with a nod.

 _Ready?_ Link signs, unable to meet the eyes above him.

“Of course.”

Reaching around to his back, Link means to adjust his weapon – but there isn’t anything there.

“I am sorry to have left your sword,” Sidon says with a frown. “I could not carry it back.”

The blond shakes his head before Sidon finishes speaking. He signs out: _Easy. Get._

“You want to go back for it?”

Link shakes his head again. He tries to say ‘new’ but his mouth clamps up tight. He grips at his throat. It’s never been this bad before. Why can’t he talk?

“Oh, a _new_ one,” the Zora says, visibly delighted at either the prospect of looking for a new sword, or simply having understood his meaning.

Link nods.

With nothing left to say, they begin their journey away from Gerudo Town and out of the desert.

When the bazaar disappears behind them, Link looks east towards the path they’d arrived from only days ago. It’ll take two weeks to get Sidon back to the Domain, but still. As the warm sanded wind of the desert scrapes at his cheeks, Link can’t help but feel it’ll be over before he knows it.

* * *

Two days later, they’re standing side by side on top of a crescent-shaped cliff, only minutes outside the Gerudo Desert. The cliff has a spiraling slope that winds around the Wasteland Tower. The gradual uphill climb had been easy – there hadn't been a single monster when normally it’s filled with bokoblins and moblins.

When they finish their climb, Link stands and stares.

All of the beasts had migrated to the _top_ of the cliff. Normally Link avoids the gradual twisting climb all together and either scales the cliffside or glides down from the tower. Had the monsters changed their position just to catch him off guard?

Being weaponless is never a problem for him. He has the slate, and it’s pretty easy to wrench a club out of bokobin’s hands.

But…

Link taps Sidon on the arm to get his attention. The Zora looks down and must see something on his face because he grins and says, “You have a plan, my dear friend.”

Nodding, Link points from himself – two hands pressed into his chest – and then to the opposite end of the crescent shaped cliff. Then he points to Sidon and the spot they’re standing in now. Sidon nods, understanding so far. Next, Link uses two fingers on the slate’s map to draw out how they’ll come together in the middle of the cliff.

“Ah! I see. We will flank them.” Sidon pulls a fist and grins down at him. “That is a sound idea. I will wait for you here while you climb— Link?”

He’ll never make it if he just jumps and tries to glide over. He’d smack into the side of the cliff and run out of stamina part way up, fall, and tumble down the side of this mountain like he had so many times before.

Link shifts his shield onto his lower back, tightening it with the belts he normally uses to carry heavier swords.

This takes a lot of concentration and perfect timing. He doesn’t hear Sidon calling out his name in confusion, or see the perplexed expression on his face.

“Link, what are you doing? Are you planning to jump? My friend, while I have the utmost faith in your abilities, I do not thin—”

Eyes wide and focused, Link runs and leaps off the cliffside. He drops one bomb, diagonal to the shield at his back, and as he moves forward he drops another.

This had taken him so many tries to get right. But it’s saved his life in a pinch, and helped him hurry when he needed to.

\---

Sidon sees the bombs and gasps, but Link is much too fast. Holding the slate in midair, Link detonates the first bomb he had set. Sidon nearly collapses, wondering what in the great gods of the sea he could be doing suddenly, wondering if perhaps his head was still unwell.

Then the second bomb explodes, a result of the first, and a heatwave of blue energy washes over Sidon’s stunned face.

Link is launched up into the open dry air, soaring as high and fast as an arrow. He’s also smoking. A stream of grey clouds trail out behind him as he's vaulted at high speeds towards the other end of the cliff.

Sidon can only stare. His heart had exploded right along with the bombs.

The Zora remains stunned until he watches Link land. Then he snaps his jaw shut, teeth clanking together with the force. Without hesitation Link is already charging in to fight the bokoblins and moblins alike. Sidon can be horrifically impressed later.

\---

The fight isn’t difficult. Link flies an arrow at the first round of bokoblins, steals a weak-but-does-the-trick sword, and charges in. The distance is far – he probably won't meet Sidon in the middle for at least an hour. But this way the beasts stay spread out with no way to horde on them.

It feels good to fight again. Every time one of his arrows hits their mark or his sword sings the song of ripping flesh, Link can’t help his soaring heart. Does he like it because Hylia made him who he is? Or is this something he just likes? If it isn’t his fault, does that make it okay?

Link elbows a bokoblin in the head and whacks it with the rusted sword, killing it with a single slice. His heart roars inside his chest and he charges in for the next monster. Adrenaline lines the insides of his veins, letting his blood pump faster.

He enjoys blood moons. He’s not supposed to. Zelda told him to be careful every single time. He should have stayed at an inn or waited them out hiding in a tree but Link would grab his sword and _run_ for the dark sky wrought with red, stars seeming to bleed, the hellish hum of calamity ringing in his ears. He _loved_ it; the hunt, the fury, doing what he’s not supposed to, risking what he doesn’t need to.

Sweating, Link wipes at his forehead. He fights off a grin. He’s sick – he _knows_ it as he slices his blade into three more monsters – no Hero of Hyrule would be like this. He pulls out his bow next, scanning for long-distance targets now that his immediate area is clear.

He hears laughing; loud, unabashed, untamed. Pulling his sword out of a bokoblin’s chest, Link looks up and watches Sidon for the first time.

The Zora has a moblin heaved over his head, its long body bent at its back, kicking and screeching.

Sidon tosses it down the side of the mountain, cheering with a triumphant ‘a _ha_!’ He pulls his spear out next, his reach impossibly long as he pierces through the ribs of a bokoblin trying to sneak up behind him.

The Zora is past the halfway point. Rows of spiked teeth are bared like a line of white pillars in the hot desert sun. Sidon spears two more bokoblins, his movements slower due to his size but full of force, and he tears through others with his free hand. Sinking his claws through the back of one bokoblin, he lifts it up and throws it down the side of the cliff.

Link’s hands slip on his bow.

Shaking himself, he lines up his shot again. No time for… that. Bokoblins might be weak, but there are a lot of them up here. Link releases the arrow with an exhale, his mind still stuck on teeth like rows of spearheads.

He misses his mark, but still strikes the bokoblin on its chin. The monster screeches and Link nocks another arrow quickly. He lets it fly, but the bokoblin swings its head back in its stunned confusion and the arrow flies uselessly over it. Grinding his teeth, Link pulls out his sword instead. He charges in, not bothering to be quiet.

The weak sword he’d picked up shatters with the final blow.

With nothing else to fight, he starts to run back, meaning to pick up another discarded weapon – there are at least a dozen clubs in the carnage around him. Three moblins follow him, lumbering slowly on heavy feet. Link grabs the first weapon he sees, a spiked bokoblin club, and spins to face the moblins.

Three is a lot with one club. He’s not sure it’ll last. Link reaches for a bomb, but freezes with it held in his hands.

Out of the sky Sidon comes crashing down, landing in front of Link with heavy feet, claws digging into the rock under them. His back is facing Link. He’s not even sure Sidon knows he’s there. The Zora growls, a mangled noise that sounds like it belongs underwater. Sidon grabs one of the moblins by its horn and heaves it over the side of the cliff. The one on his left meets his spear, and Sidon slits the throat of the third with opaque gleaming claws.

Violet blood spills out.

Link jumps when he hears his club hit the ground. It slipped from his fingers.

Sidon spins in a whipping circle to face him. His yellow eyes are blared open, frantic in their search for the noise that had turned him around. They don’t reflect the bright sun so much as absorb all of its energy, store it and let it bleed all through the manic expression on his face. He’s got bokoblin blood slapped across his naked torso and slipping down from his claws like a glove.

“Link!” The manic joy doesn't fade; Sidon looks down at him with a bright, blooming, long, wide, wolfish grin that devours Link as entirely as it devours Sidon’s whole lower jaw. “We meet at last!”

His voice sounds different. It sounds like it had in the catacombs, unhinged and....

The blond feels a hot wind at his back, blowing his hair against his cheeks and into his eyes.

“What is it, my friend?” Sidon asks, lowering his spear and his bloodied claw. The clean hand reaches out for him, one claw here missing, but Link can’t stop looking at the bloody one. “Link, are you alright?” Yellow eyes scan him up and down, looking for a wound.

His hands come up to speak. But he doesn’t have signs for what he wants to say, and instead Link is stuck staring at Sidon’s teeth, his frenzied honey eyes, and the simple fact of unashamed joy.

There are more monsters to fight though, and with a nod from Link they separate to finish the task.

  
\---

  
Bokoblins and moblins fully dealt with, Sidon stands next to Link, both of them staring east towards their path back home.

Sidon is covered in blood which he doesn’t particularly like. Monster blood has an acidity to it that stings slightly, and worse it smells like hot swamp water. But there will be no way to wash himself for some time. Not until they are back at the Faron Sea, perhaps.

Link is equally dirtied, clothes burned from exploding himself across the cliff, dirt on his cheeks, and his desert pants are torn at one knee.

“I suppose we are heading back the way we came?” Sidon asks, trying not to focus on it, trying not to mind the answer he knows will come. It has been two weeks. Selfishly, he’s taken up two full weeks of the hero’s time. Link likely wishes to move on. Perhaps return to Gerudo Town to visit his paramour once again, or begin ridding Hyrule of the remaining calamity he’d mentioned.

The blond doesn’t reply, though he’s looking up at Sidon like he wants to.

He hasn’t spoken a single word since Sidon had snuck in to see him inside Chief Riju’s throne room. The signs they’d created were helpful, but not nearly verbose enough to—

Oh!

“Link!” Sidon nearly bounces as he remembers. “I forgot! Oh! How _empty_ my head has been since you got hurt. Forgive me.” He reaches over Link’s head towards his back, where he keeps their shared items. “I saw this at the bazaar. _This_ ,” Sidon says, shoving the book he’d bought at the bazaar in his arms, giving it with his bloodless hand, “is a book of Hylian hand signs!”

Link holds it, staring down at the front. Although it is from the Gerudo Desert, it is written in Hyrule’s common tongue. He should have no trouble reading it.

Hylian hands rub at the book’s spine, but otherwise Link is non-commital. Sidon can’t read anything from his mute actions.

“I wanted to thank you properly,” the Zora says, nervous at the blank face in front of him. Perhaps such a gift was unwelcome? Surely if Link wanted something like this, he would have gone out and gotten it himself. Maybe he does not enjoy communicating with his hands at all. Has Sidon been forcing him this entire time? Has it been more hindering than helpful?

No. He must not let his insecurities colour his perceptions. Sidon is no mind reader. He does not know what Link is thinking, and he will refrain from baseless conclusions. Even if the Hylian does not like the gift, he will appreciate the gesture, and Sidon still has something he wants to say.

  
\---

  
On top of a cliff one thousand meters into the brilliant skies of the Wastelands, Link nearly falls apart. Nearly.

 _Thank me?_ he thinks, fingering the spine of the book in his hands. He’s cut and bleeding, they both are, but nothing feels sharper than the beating of his own heart.

He hears the rush of air through gills, and this brings his gaze back up to the Zora.

“I never thought I would see the desert at night, or climb cliffs such as these,” Sidon says, his face lined with nervousness. Link feels like this cliff is about to crumble under his boots. “I know what you are thinking – anyone could have brought me. But as you said to me at the beginning of this journey, not _anyone_ did. You did.”

Sidon stops here. He opens his mouth, and then he closes it with a snap. Link watches his teeth. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Sidon speechless, not like this.

Gripping at the book in his hands, Link opens his own mouth. Sound comes out, but nothing more than a stunted ‘Ah’ that cuts off into nothing at all.

He brings a free hand up to his throat, feeling miserable.

Sidon shakes his head, and claws poke into Link’s hand, three red fingers pulling it away from his neck. The touch is more gentle than such large hands should be capable of. Link flips their grip around so he’s holding Sidon’s fingers instead, and looks up at the Zora in a way that he hopes says _Keep going, I’m listening_.

Sidon smiles then – a wobbling, messy one. “I told you before I often wondered what my life would have been like without the obligations of my title.” Yellow eyes are wet; he cries so easy, and Link feels a rush of fondness. “I _love_ my people, do not misunderstand me. I am perfectly at home as the Prince of the Zora. But I feel as if I’ve discovered a lost piece of my heart, out here with you.”

Unthinking, Link drops the book. It hits the rocky cliff surface with a blunt thud. But he doesn’t hear it.

Sidon is pulling him in. Link isn’t sure if he dropped the book before or after large hands had landed on his back.

He’s encased completely in a ten foot tall frame, brought in with clawed hands. Sidon’s body creates a canopy over him, arms encircling entirely; Link’s mouth is close to smooth white skin. He closes his eyes and leans his forehead in, resting against the upper part of Sidon’s torso. Two large hands take up the full width of his upper back.

Link raises a hand up to press into white skin. There’s lines of drying blood but he hardly cares; there are also smooth rolling muscles, and the overwhelming smell of fresh rain and ozone and lingering desert sun.

He hears the sharp intake of air through gills.

The memory of their night in that alcove flashes behind his eyes, forgotten in the moment. Link pulls back so fast he almost trips. He slips out of the hands on his back, holding his own up in front of him like an apology.

\---

Sidon is stunned at the sudden emptiness in his arms. He looks down at Link, now stood away from him, watches his worried expression and the hands held out like a wall.

“That is all I had wanted to say.” Sidon does his best to smile. “I had assumed… But if you do not like the book, I would not be offended if you were to pass it along.”

\---

Link’s throat feels like it's been stuffed full of burning embers, hot and shredded and dry, scratched to pieces and useless. Lowering his hands to his side, he tries to sift through the mess in his head. It’s all just noise. Buzzing, meaningless noise. The harder he tries to push all of that through his mouth, the more it dissolves into static behind his eyes.

“Either way,” Sidon continues, “I suppose we are starting our trek home?”

Link shakes his head, holding one hand out in a way he hopes says _Wait a minute._

He looks down at the book he’d dropped.

Picking it up, his fingers fumble through the pages. There’s a dictionary section, common phrases, and dialect differences by region and species. He sticks with the dictionary, leaving the pages open so Sidon can read as he signs the new words.

_You. Hurry._

“Hurry?” Sidon repeats, confused.

Link shakes his head. He’s not sure how it's done officially, this book will probably tell him, but whenever he’d wanted to turn a phrase into a question with Sidon he’d just move the sign back and forth.

 _You. Hurry?_ he manages, flipping through until he finds he needs _both_ hands for the next part. He shoves the book into one of Sidon’s hands, standing beside him so they can both read. _You. Hurry? Can._ _Go. Place. Us._

 _Are you in a hurry to get back? We could go somewhere_. This is what he wants to say. He wishes he could do it eloquently with his hands.

Sidon catches on anyway. He smiles, and this one is small but it’s real. Link knows because he can see most of those teeth.

“I _should_ return home. It would be impertinent to delay for personal reasons, now that my task is complete. Yet…” That sharp smile shifts to shy, maybe even a little guity. “Perhaps we could return a different way than we came?”

Link nods, his hands on the pages of the book Sidon is still holding.

“Which route did you have in mind, my friend?”

Link searches frantically through the book.

A flat hand circled over his heart: _Want._

A finger drawing an arc, out near his cheek: _Where_.

A hand moved forward, pointing palm-up towards the other man: _You_.

_Wherever you want._

* * *

Sidon sits contently on the platform of the shrine, watching Link work through the puzzle. The task seems to be fairly straightforward. There are large stone blocks on a grid on the floor, and they are meant to be lined up in some specific way to create a pattern. Yet the pattern is lost on him, and clearly on the Hylian Hero as well.

In their deliberation on what direction to return home by, the blondhad asked if he might stop and complete this shrine, and Sidon had no reason to deny him.

Link has been lifting and pushing blocks of solid stone for hours by now. He had long ago abandoned his shirt, sweat and water coating his scarred back and chest. Link heaves a stone up, lifting with his thighs. The groan of effort echoes from wall to wall of the high-ceilinged shrine.

Sidon skirts his eyes away from Link’s legs.

Groaning in frustration this time, the blond kicks the stone he’d just placed, only to hop up and down, clutching the foot in pain.

Laughing, Sidon says, “Perhaps take a break?” He moves his feet through the shallow water covering the shrine’s floor, just to distract from any other sensation. “You may see the trick of this place after you take your mind off it for a moment.”

Link shakes his head. From across the room he signs, _Not enough blocks. Impossible._

Suggesting he take a break was merely a polite gesture. Sidon knows Link will not. He’s hyperfocused on the task at hand, as usual, and will not be deterred until it is complete.

“You will solve this puzzle, Link! Believe in yourself.”

_You going to help, prince?_

“Surely not!” Sidon grins, making a show of relaxing against the wall behind him. “Do your best, hero!”

The only reply he’s given then is in a tiny smirk with an eye roll. Laughing softly, Link turns toward his task once again.

Sidon watches his back muscles flex, his bare arms, his heaving thighs, wondering just how much the stone blocks weigh.

Suddenly he feels a twitch. Only slight, hardly anything at all, but there.

He busies himself with cleaning out his claws, and tries not to stare any longer.

* * *

Link decides to take them north towards Ridgeland Tower, and then head west through the center of Hyrule. Sidon had said he wanted to see more forests and there’s a great fairy hidden there, too. The second Link pictured Sidon meeting one of the Great Fairies, he couldn't stop thinking about it. They’d probably get along. And if not, Sidon would still be amazed at the sight of her.

Walking quietly through Ludfo’s Bog, Link keeps his eyes open wide, looking for the telltale orange mushrooms and hints of a worn path. He’s only visited Kaysa once in Ridgeland, and hadn’t marked the location on the slate.

“Link, what are we looking for? I can help.”

He turns on his heels and signs. _It’s a surprise_.

He hasn’t used his voice in four days. He thinks he probably could now if he wanted to.

They walk around the bog-forest for another hour, no sign of the sprite. Kaysa used to be up in the Tabantha region when Link had first met her, but she’d left for Ridgeland, saying something about the humidity from the bog being better for her skin. Maybe she moved back east again?

Link turns around, hands ready to apologize and suggest they find somewhere to camp for the night, when he hears it.

Way off in the distance, but moving fast.

Thunder.

  
\---

  
“Link—” Sidon tries as he’s yanked out of the bog at an alarming pace, a strong Hylian hand curled around three of his fingers. “It’s alright.”

He is resolutely ignored. Link pulls him into a nearby thick forest. Rain pelts down from the screen of leaves above their heads. A blast cracks the sky, bright blue flashes of winding electric light. It illuminates all the spaces between the leaves and trees.

Sidon is pulled along faster.

“I am fine, _truly_ Link,” he says, their feet splashing on the soaked forest floor. It feels good to be wet again, he has not been inside any amount of water in days, even that bog had felt good under his feet – but Sidon is more concerned with the frantic Hylian before him. “There is thunder in the Domain as well. We n–”

The hand around his fingers grips harder.

Ah. Wrong thing to say.

Giving in, Sidon lets himself be pulled. Link had discarded his metal sword and shield somewhere forgotten in the forest. His eyes had glazed over with purpose, with a single and all-encompassing intention, and he would not be distracted. Sidon knows that well by now.

The hand gripping him is strong, as is the way he’s hauled along. Looking down at the rolling muscles of his forearm, Sidon cannot help it; he wonders, privately to himself in the very depths of his heart, if Link is strong enough to lift him.

They come across a small cabin, no bigger than one single room, and Link yanks the door open, breaking the old rusted lock. He waits for Sidon to go in first. The Zora has to duck low under the Hylian-made entrance.

There is not a lot of room. Sidon has to sit, and even then he is too tall. He curves himself against one corner, his back riding up the wall, his shoulders, neck, and head pressed along the ceiling.

A small wooden cabin like this is unlikely to save them from being struck. Perhaps it is enchanted with Hylian magic? Link looks considerably more relaxed, either way, so Sidon does not ask.

They’re close, not at eye level but… He can see the spots of grey and near-green in the details of his eyes. It reminds Sidon of when he’d pulled Link into the back corridor of those catacombs. Link had been just as on edge then as he is now, tearfully trying to trick the Zora back into safety.

A sudden thought strikes him.

“Link. Is this someone’s home? We cannot b–”

“ _I’m the hero_ ,” he says. The sound of his voice strikes Sidon through the core. It is rough from lack of use, and scrapes through each consonant like grinding gravel. Link is glaring out the small window beside them as if he intends to fight the sky itself. “I can do whatever I want.”

It is the first he’s spoken in five full days. Sidon does not mind his silence, but the sudden resurface of his bright voice sings to his heart. It is the first thing he’s said since Sidon had snuck into Riju’s palace to see him, an event Sidon is not sure Link remembers, and one he thinks he himself must misremember. A memory painted over by what he _wishes_ had nearly happened, perhaps.

Sidon smiles, fond all the same of the Hylian determined to protect what he does not need to.

“You certainly are,” he says, and watches leftover rainwater slide down the hero’s jawline.

* * *

They make their way through Hyrule Field next, Link showing him the ruins with such pride and excitement that Sidon is nearly dizzy with how wide his smile grows. They cut through beasts along the way. Link looks at the dead shells of guardians and Sidon cannot tell if he's relieved or disappointed that they are no longer active.

After that, they head south through Necluda, and Link introduces him to a Great Fairy, presenting her proudly as a friend. Her name is Mija and Sidon likes her a great deal, least of all because she reinforces Links armour and reminds him to actually wear it.

When they reach the Hylia river, just on the border of Necluda and Lanayru, Link changes clothes, signing the Gerudo-specific word for ‘vai.’ Her hair is pulled back as it always is, a silver headpiece around her forehead with an opal gem in the middle. She looks ashamed of it, and Sidon can’t imagine the reason. She seems no different to him. The same kind and strong hero he's always known.

* * *

Three days later, Link is staring south towards his home village, the familiar smell of the Necluda Sea faintly in the air. It’s early morning. Sidon is still asleep, floating in Telta Lake. The gentle sound of gills filtering oxygen sweeps breezily over the trees around them. Link doesn't need to ask himself if he’s going to miss it. If he’ll hear it in the middle of the night, only to wake up alone.

Sitting with his back pressed against a tree, he fingers the headpiece in his hands. It’s similar to the one Sidon always wears but more intricate, like twisting silver vines. There are two spots for gems and one for a feather. The titanium quartz seems to glare up at him, telling him things he doesn't need to hear.

_Gerudo gift it as a promise to always protect, as an oath of strength and loyalty._

Link has accepted some things about himself, lately. He likes being given direction, being aimed and shot like an arrow. He likes being told what to do, as long as it’s a good thing to do. Maybe that’s weird. Maybe Ganon's calamity _did_ seep into his soul and ruin him. Maybe being the Hero of Hyrule has ruined him. Maybe he’s too reckless. Maybe he’s a bit bloodthirsty for a good fight.

But so what? Who is he hurting? Only bokoblins, and _they’re_ the ones waiting around to attack people.

He won't go back to Hateno Village and try to force himself to enjoy peace. If this is who he is, then this is who he is. He’ll return to Hyrule Castle and talk to Zelda about what he wants. She’ll insist that he should rest (he can hear her already, ‘Link, you defeated Ganon less than a _month_ ago!’) but he'll explain it to her. With this book Sidon had given him, Link knows he can make her understand.

And she won’t mind. Link will _always_ be her knight, fate had decided that for both of them, but he’d also decided that for himself. No matter where he goes, he’ll return if Hyrule needs him.

But as much as he loves her, he doesn’t want to be aimed and shot by _Zelda_.

* * *

“Where are we, my friend?”

“Keep going.” He says it with his mouth out of necessity. “Four more steps, then stop.”

Link is sitting on Sidon’s shoulders, covering yellow eyes with his hands. He has to lean down against his headtail to reach. Once Sidon is lined up in the right spot, Link lifts his hands.

A heart-shaped lake glitters back at them.

Sidon lets out a breathless and delighted laugh. “Oh, wonderful! How charming! What could the name of such a lake be?” He grins.

Link climbs down his back, moving to stand next to him. Heart thumping he says, “Lovers Lake,” as casually as he can.

“Naturally!” Sidon replies, gesturing to the water in its entirety. “I suppose this is a popular spot for couples in this region.” Nothing in his expression implies he means this as anything other than a matter of fact.

_There is no shame in unrequited love, if that is what you think this is. You can tell him without expecting anything in return._

Throat dry, Link nods. He doesn’t want to ruin… what they have. What they’ve built during all of this. Sidon’s uncomfortable expression in the Gerudo Desert is still clear in his head. They’d gone back to normal afterwards, after saving Isha’s daughter from those lizalfos, after Link had chained him down in a fit of irrational fear and they’d had their very first fight about it; after they’d talked in Riju’s throne room, though the conversation is still somewhat hazy in Link’s head.

It had taken all of _that_ for them to move past whatever discomfort Link had caused.

He doesn’t ever want to make Sidon feel uncomfortable again, but he does want Sidon to know.

Link can be too forward, though. Too intense.

He’ll try to be less intense.

\---

Sighing through his gills, Sidon marvels at the heart-shaped lake in front of them. He marvels at _all_ of it, truly, everything they had seen and done since Link had first appeared at the palace. The small climb through the shortcut towards the Veiled Falls, the shrine where Link had found him the coat, the more harrowing climb over Mount Lanayru, Link’s strong hands guiding him, the long swim through the rivers that connected Hateno to the vastness of Hyrule Lake. The ride through the forest on the back of a great elk, holding onto the man in front of him like a lifeline.

The twilight desert sky, the crying call of a thousand different birds as the landscape changed around them, the soft breathing interrupted by an occasional bout of sleep talk (Sidon has not told the Hylian he does this), the way Link had crawled into his lap then up onto him fully, rough hands sliding across his shoulders and then around his neck and Sidon held him back, lifted him higher, wanted to bury himself in the warmth he almost lost.

Link has someone, he reminds himself, not for the first time since they had left the desert. He has someone and Sidon will respect that. Whoever they are, they are obviously special to Link; he had been hours late to meet Sidon, and he had been in a hurry to see them when they’d first arrived at the city.

“Sidon?”

“Oh. Apologies.” Sidon shakes his head clear. “Simply lost in thought.”

 _What are you thinking about?_ Link signs with a grin.

“Hmmm.” Sidon pretends to deliberate for a moment. Then he lets a grin of his own slash across his mouth, pulls it wide as he reaches down and picks the hero up like he’s no more than a pebble. A very pretty one. “Taking you for a swim, of course.” There’s a growl in his voice, and he hopes the blond doesn’t notice.

“ _Sidon_ -” But Link is laughing, his constant quietness shattered by the bright beautiful sound. If it slips its way effortlessly into the very center of his heart, Sidon lets it rest there. These will only be memories in a few short days, and they will be all he has to hold when he returns to the palace.

Still grinning, he throws Link into the lake. Link hits the water laughing, sputtering as he swims to the surface. He gives Sidon a glare with absolutely no heat. Taking a few steps back, Sidon runs and dives in after him.

He rises to the surface on his back, grinning at the Hylian next to him. Oh water feels good, in every instance, in every iteration, between all of his fingers and over all of his skin. It feels even better when he can take a great breath with his gills and smell nothing but the man beside him. Fire, earth, light, heat.

Link, treading next to his face, says, “Going to leave me to drown?”

Sidon closes his eyes, still grinning but unable to look. If he were to, he does not think he’d manage to speak casually. “That would _not_ be very princely of me.”

“No.”

“I suppose I _did_ throw you in here.”

“Yes.”

Sidon opens his eyes regardless. His vision folds over with nothing but blue. When did he get so close? Link’s breathing is soft and slightly panting as he treads water with his arms. His lips are open, showing two rows of square teeth, though two on the bottom have a more fanged shape, which Sidon is sure he’s noticed before but is stuck staring as if he never had.

“Link,” Sidon says, and does not know why.

The blond raises both brows at him. “Sidon,” he says back, sinking lower in the water, closer to his face.

And then Link is gone. He slips under the water as quietly as a star blinks out of the early morning sky. Sidon thinks about diving to search for him, but Link always speaks with actions, and he wants to know what he’s going to do.

He feels hands on his back underwater. They grab at his left side, clasping at him. Next, feet are placed square on his opposite side. Link’s head pops out of the water with a determined, fiery grin. Pulling with his hands and pushing with his feet, he rolls Sidon over onto his front like he’s nothing more than a plank of wood.

Holding on tight, Link rolls with him, staying perfectly secure on Sidon’s back.

Now floating on his front, Sidon doesn't need to see Link to know he’s grinning.

He’s about to say something, but legs slip down either side of him, Link moving to sit on his upper back. The legs are bare, he must have gotten rid of his clothes while he’d disappeared underwater; warm skin slides against his gills. Link’s weight is no small thing. It presses him into the water. His muscled thighs sit flat on his back, bending down around his ribs.

They have done this before, and yet he finds he cannot speak.

“Sidon.” Rough Hylian hands press flat into his shoulders. “Do you… I want…” he breathes out harshly through his nose, obviously frustrated, but Sidon is helpless to do anything about it. “If you don’t like this, tell me,” Link says.

And then his hands dig in, pushing under his wide dorsi muscles. Sidon groans instantly. He hadn’t been expecting the sudden pressure and Link’s hands are small enough to get in under each chord of muscle, forcing one large knot to surrender.

“I knew it. Walking is hard on you.”

Sidon tries to think through the fog his head is drowning in. His teeth feel heavy in his mouth. “Zora are excellent – ah – _excellent_ walkers,” he says, followed by a sigh through his gills. “Yet days of it are a little precarious at my size.”

“This would be easier on land,” Link says, his hands sliding down over large shoulders.

Sidon does not need to be told twice. He beaches himself, lying on his stomach up a rocky bank, stretching out fully. His hips and legs remain in the lake, resting lazily in the water. Link stays sitting on his back. Because Sidon is lying at an angle, the Hylian has to hold on a bit tighter with his legs to stay put; the extra pressure sends heat down Sidon’s thighs but he tries to ignore that.

Massages are common for Zora. If he feels a little different about it because _Link_ is the one doing it, he resolves to keep this to himself.

Deft fingers crack as Link digs into muscle that ought to be too large for him to do anything with. But he has no trouble, pushing and pressing around knots, using what feels like his elbows at times. Sidon sighs contently, closing his eyes, his head resting on top of folded arms. Link rubs a line on either side of his upper back, over his shoulders and up his neck. He searches under the base of his headtail until he finds a knot there. Once he is sure of it, he digs his hands in and rolls warm pressure over it.

Sidon feels his lower stomach and thighs fall slack, all integrity dissolved under such an unyielding touch.

“You’re so _strong_ ,” he says in a gruff, low voice, half-delirious. “You had better not tell any of the Zora you are capable of this. They will never leave you alone.”

“Feels good?” Link asks.

Fingers slip back down his neck, and Sidon can only sigh.

After a minute Link slips further down his back, stopping to sit where it dips down. Then calloused hands are pushing at his spine, rubbing over bone that protrudes more on a Zora than on a Hylian. It’s clear that Link is copying what Sidon had done to him, but he’s not complaining. Link learns everything by either having it done to him, or simply doing it on his own.

“Is this good?”

“Lower,” Sidon says. Then catches himself and adds, “Please.”

Link huffs out a gentle laugh. He scoots himself further down Sidon’s back, and drags his finger down the full lenght of him, scratching. The sigh that escapes him at that is sharper, sudden and surprised, but his body goes limp again. “So good with your hands,” Sidon hears himself say, his mouth working all on its own. “Of course you are.”

The blond laughs softly again. And when he finally rubs down near the base of Sidon’s spine, kneading at tight muscles, Sidon lets out a groan loud enough to shake the birds from nearby trees.

By the time Link gets off of him, Sidon is a useless pile of Zora. His head spins pleasantly. Everything is loose from his neck to his ankles. Link had gotten in the water and rubbed the back of his legs as well.

“Sidon.”

He hums in response, head still resting in folded arms.

Squatting, Link pokes him in the cheek. “Si–”

The Zora removes one arm from under his head to take the finger, and then all of Link’s hand. “Come back to the palace with me.”

“Ah-”

“Come back with me so I may have a massage like that everyday of my _life_ ,” Sidon says with a laugh.

Link huffs at him. “Spoiled prince.”

“Who is the one spoiling me?” He releases the Hylian’s amazing hand in case he wishes to use it to speak.

 _One more_ , those hands say, dancing deftly in front of Sidon’s eyes.

“One more what?”

_Get up and find out._

\---

Link is shaking when he pulls the headpiece out of his bag. Sidon is sitting up on the bank, lying with his legs in the water and back propped up against a rock. Link is just beside him, sitting further up the bank, bringing them closer to the same height. Normally he doesn't care about being so far away from Sidon’s face – but he wants to be close for this.

“Link…”

He sets the headpiece in Sidon’s large hands, trying to hide the nervousness on his face; pointless because it shows plainly in his shaking fingers.

“When did you…”

“I asked Isha. She’s a jeweler. Ah, it’s not-” he fumbles and pulls Sidon’s usual crown out of their things as well, slipping it back inside after he’s sure the Zora’s seen it. He’d never alter the real one without permission, but he didn’t think there’d be anything wrong with making a new one. “I know you…” he finishes with his hands: _have to wear your real one, bu–_

His hands are cut off by a large body rolling over and engulfing him in a hug. Sidon has him around the waist, his face shoved into Link’s chest. He’d moved slowly. Still a bit slack from the massage, maybe.

“You _must_ stop giving me things.”

Link smiles and scratches at the back of Sidon’s headtail, down the pattern of spots that line it. They feel rougher than the rest of his skin. Link wants to ask now, thinks maybe he’ll be able to, sitting along the bank of this lake.

“I am going to get attached if you continue,” the Zora says. One cheek is pressed into Link's thighs, but the one facing him is faintly blue. Sidon's gaze is held towards the forest surrounding them. His voice is airy, whispered. “You are truly… I…” he trails off.

Smiling, Link continues scratching under his headtail. The Zora sighs, his head shifting against Link's thighs. They stay like that, Sidon pressed into his lap and torso, his hands resting on the grass on either side of Links hips, for a long time. The blond scratches around his dorsal fin, enjoying the easy silence broken by occasional deep sighs.

Eventually, Sidon hauls himself back up, leaving Link's hands and thighs empty. The Zora sits himself back against the rock again.

Holding up the headpiece, claws clinking against metal, he inspects the gem. “What is the stone?”

 _You said you liked Gerudo gems_ , Link says with his hands, and then with his mouth, “Titanium quartz.”

“When did you find it? I don’t recall seeing it at all during our travels.”

Link makes the sign they’d made up for stalnox: two hands, each pointer finger and thumb in a circle, held out like a skeleton’s face.

It was a giant beast they had fought together. He’s trying to say something with it. Something he can’t figure out exactly how to say with words.

“It’s _beautiful_. You did not have to… In fact, I believe it is _my_ job as the escorted party to give _you_ gifts. You’ve subverted our roles. What’s a prince to do now?” He laughs, still looking down at the headpiece in his hands.

“Sidon,” Link says, just to get yellow eyes on him again. It never seems hard to say his name, even when it seems impossible to say anything else. When the Zora turns to look, Link feels like his eyes dance to keep up. Sidon has a spectacular head, and he means that in every sense of the word: the red crest, the fins that fan out like an arrow, the red tail behind him, yellow eyes like low-glowing faerie light and thin black slits for pupils. His features are dynamic, just like everything else about him.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Link remembers telling himself he wasn't going to be intense about this. But Sidon’s lips fall open, the front row of teeth poking into his bottom lip, and Link’s never been good at holding himself back.

Sidon stands up suddenly, stretching his arms out.

“Well, my friend. We had better prepare for the evening, had we not?” He turns slightly away, looking back at where they had left their things. “Would you like to gather food while I start a fire?”

Sidon doesn’t wait for him to answer. He doesn’t even look back. The Zora walks away, clawed feet digging into the grassy ground.

Link’s heart throbs with empty longing. That’s his answer, then.

He couldn’t have been any more obvious. A heart shaped lake, a massage, a gift, and leaning in close.

Running a hand through his hair, he sighs. He looks out at the lake, his lips pressed into a line and his throat feeling dry.

After a long moment, Link pulls himself up to his feet, feeling like it takes every last bit of the strength he has. He turns and follows Sidon towards their fire.

\---

Standing at the fire, Sidon tries desperately to calm his racing heart. He sets a hand over it, looking up at the open sky and the treeline of the adjacent forest. He waits, but it remains racing.

He had almost—

But Link _has_ someone! Sidon will not dishonour that. Perhaps the Hylian is physically affectionate with close friends and perhaps this mysterious paramour is fine with that, but Sidon doubts Link would be very happy to be— to be—

He buries his head in his hands, heat swirling through his lower abdomen at the thought.

Even now, he still wants to do it.

Even though it would be unkind to his dear friend.

But how can he not want to? Link had given him this beautiful head ornament, had gotten the gem from a beast they had slain, and Sidon _knows_ now how cathartically Link fights. How he feels about… How badly he…

Sidon is going to fall apart before they arrive at the palace. He is sure of it.

\---

“Sidon?”

The Zora jumps about fifty feet in the air.

“Ah!” He doesn't turn around right away. “Link! Yes. Um. I will go find us some fish! I will be back shortly!” He hurries off, feet tangling on a pile of wood he hadn’t finished setting up.

And Link is alone again.

Breathing out slowly, he fixes the woodpile into a lightable shape.

Sidon comes back an hour later, arms full of far too many fish for two people. Link doesn't comment on it. They eat in muted silence.

* * *

The rest of the journey back to the Zora Domain is quiet. Link is busy stamping out his broken heart, trying not to think about it too hard, and finds himself unable to say much.

He knows they’ll be alright. He'll head back to Hyrule – ask Zelda for work, instead of his original plan – and distract himself with quests or hauling heavy materials for the castle's reconstruction until she has something else for him to do. Eventually Link will find some reason to be at the Zora palace again, see Sidon standing in the throne room or out on the lower level; he’ll be treated like he always was. Link will have moved on, he's sure he can; for Sidon he could do anything.

He blinks, surprised at the wetness in his eyelashes.

 _No_. Things could be so much worse. Ganon could have won, Sidon could be _dead_ , he has nothing to cry about.

* * *

The tall towers of the Domain loom overhead. Its high walls blot out the thin moon, cut like a slice through the night sky. Link walks Sidon all the way inside the palace, and Sidon insists he follow him up the main stairway towards the throne room.

“I wonder how my father is doing?” Sidon says as they climb the steps.

Link only shrugs.

King Dorephan greets them both with a kind smile when Sidon opens the doors to the throne room.

“I see you have kept your promise. Thank you, young hero. Your service to the Domain is as appreciated as always.”

Mouth shut into a tight line, Link’s only reply is a nod. He’s glad when the King looks back over at Sidon again.

“Now, my son. We have much to discuss. Link, feel free to remain here and rest. The baths are open for you, Rivan can take you.”

  
\---

  
He sinks down into the warm water, but snapping anxiety tracks up and down his spine. He shouldn’t be here. He’s finished the job, he got Sidon to Gerudo Town and back in one piece, and there’s nothing left to do.

All he can think about is his jagged teeth, his white lips, the V shape of his torso and chest; his constant positivity, the way he lights up when he sees something he likes, how he had carried Link across the wastelands, how angry he’d been inside the catacombs, how—

Link sinks fully underwater, trying to drown his memories.

Slipping out of the bath, he makes his way down to the bottom of the palace. The Ne'ez Yohma Shrine glows brightly at him. It had been hilarious trying to fit Sidon into the two shrines he'd brought him to. He…

Link shakes his head. No. Time to go home. He’ll go find something to fight. There are always bokoblins outside the village. He’ll work his arms to the bone and then things will go back to normal.

He sets his location on the slate, and holds it over the shrine’s pedestal.

“Link!”

He freezes at the sound of claws on a hard floor. In seconds Sidon is wading through the water around the shrine.

“You’re leaving?” he asks, moving in closer. “Without- Without saying goodbye?”

Down in the water Sidon is still taller but not by nearly as much. Link looks up at him and says nothing. The Zora takes another step closer and then another, continues until they’re as close as they’ve ever been. “Link, if I have done something to upset you, I must tell you how sorry I am. I can’t explain it, yet I…”

His chest is too close and his eyes are too pretty and his voice is too familiar and the gills that cut cleanly into his side too intricate and winding with silver filaments and Link’s head fills with a great white noise, meaningless and convulsing into nothing.

With a press of his finger, he activates the slate.

“ _Link_.”

He starts floating, body engulfed in blue light, but his heart hasn’t moved away, is still stuck on vibrant yellow that looks as dejected as Link feels.

“Sorry,” he says, and hopes that it’s alright. It’ll hardly be anything at all.

Link raises his arm and slips a hand along Sidon’s jaw. He moves in slowly. Sidon can leave if he wants, and if he doesn't it'll be alright because Link’s only half here anyway. The last thing he sees is honey yellow, pretty sharp teeth poking out of a mouth open in wonder. He closes his eyes and leans in.

Their lips brush, just barely, as Link dissolves in brilliant blue light.


	6. Zora's Domain - Hateno Village

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **W A R N I N G** : There’s like a 20k sex scene. I don't want to spoil it by tagging everything they get up to, but it's nothing wild -- all consensual and fun for both of them. If you have questions just ask me in the comments, or send me a message on tumblr : ) If you want to skip the sex scene, it starts and ends with "* * *"
> 
> I stole Sidon's dicks from bad dragon. This, except white of course: ([NSFW](https://bad-dragon.com/products/gunner)).
> 
> This wouldn't have been finished without [Alpaca](https://actually-an-alpaca.tumblr.com/) helping me. She spent hours editing with me and telling me I don't suck at this! So she deserves a HUGE thanks.
> 
> Thank you, it's been fun, the comments have been really nice ;_; I can't believe I finished an 80k+ fic in a month. This chapter has drained me completely so I hope people like it @_@

* * *

Sidon stands in stunned silence. His lips are parted, eyes not looking at anything although they are blared wide open. The cool feeling of magic prickles his mouth and his cheek. Where Link had... Link had… 

He stumbles forward, his feet slipping on the bottom of the pool of water he’s stood in. He sets one hand on the outer wall of the shrine, trying to keep himself from falling.

Link had _kissed_ him. There— That wasn’t anything else. He may have been washed out in blue light but that hand had been warm and definite, pulling him in, and his mouth…. 

Sidon drops his fingers from his lips, unaware he’d been touching them all this time.

He takes a seat down in the water. His knees cannot hold him.

If Link had a paramour, why would he…

No.

Link would _not_. That is the only answer. If Link had a lover he was devoted to, he would not kiss someone else. There are those who hold more than one person close, but if Link were of such a disposition he would have explained it before kissing him. Over the course of their time together Link had become increasingly better at sharing important information. He would have told him. Sidon is sure of it.

And if… If he did not have someone, and he’d just done that— And the heart shaped lake, the gift, the massage, the _teasing_ , the way he’d fall into a frenzy of protection whenever there was a hint of lightning; all of it, every bit of it an action that meant—

That meant...

Heat blooms inside Sidon’s lower stomach, curling like weeding wildflowers. There had been a lot of magic in the way, but he could still feel Link in that kiss. 

“Father,” Sidon says, breathless as he runs his weary legs up to the top floor of the palace. His father is in the middle of a meeting with the Zora assigned to Gerudo Town, but he had barged in regardless. “Father. I have to go. I will return.”

“What? You only _just_ returned.” The King sits up straight on his giant throne, calling after him. “Sidon! Wait!”

He does not. Link could be anywhere in all of Hyrule with that slate of his, and with the kind of adventurous heart he has. Hopefully he will return home to Hateno Village to recuperate, before perhaps traveling to Hyrule Castle in want of the work he’d been so desperate for during their journey. It isn’t necessarily likely but Sidon does not know where else to start and he is not staying _here_ , just recently kissed, with his heart trying to break free of his chest.

Grabbing a spear from one of the guards (making sure to apologize and thank her), Sidon leaves the front gates of the palace and crosses the bridge, heading out into the world he’d only just returned from. 

It’s a three day journey to Hateno, one that includes Lanayru Mountain. He could go around it but that would add nearly two days, and Sidon does not have that kind of time. If Link is even at the village, he will not remain there for long. 

* * *

Feeling sick, Link materializes on the shrine in Hateno Village. He walks himself to his house instead of gliding. He needs to move his body. It’s the middle of the night, which he's grateful for because it means no one stops to welcome him home or ask him how things went.

He all but throws himself onto his bed, face-first and with a dramatic poof of air from the pillow and feather blankets Uma had given him. He used to sleep on the wooden part of the bed frame. She said it was bad for his back.

He feels like he did when he first woke up in the Shrine of Resurrection. Like he wanted to sleep for a million years. Maybe if he were more talkative, maybe if he were always a woman, maybe if he were a Zora or taller or…

Groaning, he rolls over onto his back, throwing an arm over his eyes. There's no point in thoughts like that. He is who he is. If that’s not someone Sidon likes, then… it just isn’t. 

And if he’d reached his limit and stolen a kiss, it was only because he didn’t think it counted for much with his body half-vanished in blue magic.

Link still remembers the barely-there press of a larger mouth. Wishes, if nothing else, he'd gotten to feel his teeth.

And then his gut rolls over sickly, guilt flooding in to replace the memory.

He shouldn’t have done it. It was selfish.

He’ll sleep. He wants to go out and fight but his head's a mess. If he goes out fighting now, he might end up dead from distraction. 

* * *

Ice and snow snip at his face, but Sidon’s positivity is an even match for the weather in Lanayru Mountain. If he’s done something once, then he can do it again. That is what he tells himself, even as his claws slip on yet another black-ice covered rock.

He is not going straight up the mountain, but instead around one side of it. The climb is still steep, but as long as he pays adequate attention, he will be fine.

Just as he thinks this, Sidon’s claws lose their purchase on a patch of ice. He slips gracelessly, and lands with a dull thud on his face, glad there is no one around to witness the blunder.

Why had Link left? He wonders, pushing his head up off the snow. He did not give Sidon even a _chance_. What did he think would happen if he stayed?

Sidon pulls himself to his feet, continuing on.

He doesn’t stop to sleep. The longer route around the peak of the mountain would add half a day to his journey. Somehow, he must make up the time.

* * *

Link wakes up groggy. This isn’t anything new, so he rolls out of bed with a long yawn, rubbing his eyes. Stomping down his stairs half-asleep, he steps outside and washes his face in the small pond. It’s midday. Not surprising. He’d been exhausted. His right shoulder pinches. Kneeling at the pond, he rolls it. Must have slept on it wrong.

_You really ought to. Especially you._

He stands back up silently, looking at his house, and tries to decide what to do.

* * *

Sidon slides down the last leg of Lanayru Mountain with a cheer. Once at the bottom, he decides to never climb another mountain again in his life.

With the difficult part over, it is merely a straight line all the way to Hateno Village. He reaches into the items he’d brought, things he’d simply had with him upon returning to the Domain with Link, and pulls out a stamina potion. It is not enough for someone his size. The vial itself is reminiscently small. But he drinks it, and it does help slightly.

* * *

Link spends the day weeding his flower beds, which he _hates_ because it’s stationary, but he hates himself more right now so it seems like the right thing to do. He shouldn't have kissed him. Now things would never go back to normal. The best he could hope for, he thinks while he yanks on a weed and dirt splashes up into his mouth, is an awkward reunion. A forced _Hello my dear friend_ from Sidon, and a stilted nod from himself. 

He wipes dirt from his face. Tomorrow. He'll leave for Hyrule Castle tomorrow. He doesn’t know what he’s here for, anyway. He’d already decided what he wanted.

* * *

The lizalfos are an easy and expected foe. Sidon kills the one with the lightning arrows first, throwing his spear right between its bulging eyes. He uses his claws for the final two, neither of them wielding any electricity. 

Once they are all dead, he cannot help the stagger on his legs. Zora do not do well without sleep. 

With the foes' corpses lined up at his feet, Sidon steps over them and continues on into the second night of his trek.

* * *

Tomorrow comes and Link’s all packed, weapons and shield in hand. He pushes the front door of his house open, tells himself he already feels much better after two days of rumination and regret, and then—

Uma meets him at the door.

“Link.” She squints her old eyes up at him. “Are you leaving?” He doesn’t reply. “You’re needed outside of Sophie’s shop. Come, boy.”

It’s bokoblins. Ten of them. At least he gets to fight something.

He can leave for Hyrule later. Maybe tomorrow. 

* * *

Eventually, Sidon has no choice but to sleep. He passes out under a tall red tree at sunrise, spear lying over his lap. It is less comfortable to sleep outside of water, but he can manage; there is none in sight regardless and his body simply demands it of him. 

He does not sleep for more than a few hours. 

It is daytime when he wakes. He stands up with a yawn, and wonders if it mightn’t have been smarter to simply wait at the Domain for Link to return.

Surely he would come back eventually. Something would call him back. A quest, or another mission requiring Hylian help. Link would arrive, and then Sidon could talk to him.

He wipes the thought from his mind as soon as it comes. Sidon would be wholly unable to focus on palace duties, hoping day after day for a blond head to appear at the gates. 

But more than that, Sidon does not want to keep Link waiting.

* * *

Tomorrow arrives and Link heads down to Hateno Beach, starting the first leg of his journey to Central Hyrule.

He pulls his sword out, standing on the cool sand, eyes focused. He whistles at the bokoblins who are always patrolling the beach, wanting a real fight, no stealth, and lines his blade up as they come for him. He lets his sword rip through flesh but there's no passion in it. He feels numb, and tired, and he kills them all with the dull expression of someone dead on their feet.

It isn’t like Link can’t live without him. He’s lived his whole life without Sidon.

A bokoblin lunges for him, club out and stupid grin on its face. Link lets himself be hit. He falls back into the rocks lining the shore, coughing as the wind is knocked out of him.

No, he can live without Sidon. He was going to have to, anyway. The Hero of Hyrule can’t be with the Zora Prince, and even if they could Sidon would still have to live at the palace, and Link would still be miserable anywhere stationary. It’s not like things could go on like they had been. It was never an option.

And the other plan he’d had? There’s no way he could do that now.

He stands up, wiping blood from his mouth, and dives back into the fight.

* * *

Sidon sees the entrance to Hateno Village and feels all of his energy restored in an instant. He shouts from delight, picking up his pace.

“Link?” Uma says, looking up at him with great perplexion. Sidon simply smiles and hopes she tells him quickly. “I believe he left for Hyrule Castle.”

His heart becomes a stone and sinks to the very depths of his spirit.

“Have you any idea which way he may have gone?”

Sophie, the Hylian woman who had crafted his armor, pokes her head out of the window of her shop. “Pardon me, Prince Sidon.” She points out across the village. “I think he’s at the beach. It’s south from the main road.”

“You have my thanks!” he calls over his shoulder as he runs.

* * *

Link is in the water, washing blood from his hair and his skin, wishing he could get a move on already. It never usually takes him this long to pack up and go. 

What’s he waiting for? The Hand of Hylia to come from the sky, pluck him up and drop him into the next part of his destiny?

That’s only a matter of time, and Link will be ready for it, but he wishes he had a choice. He would always choose to help. Why can’t that be enough? Maybe if he had a choice, he wouldn’t be so… reckless all the time.

Wringing water out of his hair, standing in the sea where he can just barely touch, he hears it. 

Something big and fast lumbering through the trees and down the hills.

* * *

Sidon could _fall_ down these hills for all he cares. He’d caught a glimpse of golden blond hair in the crystalline blue water and he had never honed in on something so fiercely in all his long life.

* * *

Link swims to shore, doesn’t bother to dress himself but does pick up his sword. Standing in ankle-deep water, he squints at the treeline that covers the hills, waiting for whatever beast might come for him.

* * *

Thorns and vines and other restrictive vegetation tug at his skin but Sidon can only picture how quickly Link had disappeared from him days ago, gone in the blink of an eye, gone like light when a candle is snuffed out. No trace of him. Oh why did he not simply tell the Hylian how he felt while they were traveling? What could it have _hurt_? Only his pride, and Sidon has little need for that around Link.

* * *

Closing his eyes, Link tries to listen. The rustling of trees. The thumping of large feet. What monster is that? Not a moblin, but similar. Maybe the same weight.

* * *

Sidon breaks the treeline in a burst, vaulting over the flora outlining the beach and skidding on the sand until his feet find purchase. He continues like a shot, running as his heart threatens to burst from pumping blood, his clawed feet digging hard into loose sand.

* * *

When he hears the snapping of breaking branches, Link opens his eyes. He holds his sword out, more ready for a hard fight than he ever has been in his life.

His breathing stops. 

* * *

Sidon’s feet hit the water and he catches Link in his arms, hauling him up and then vaulting them both into the sea with a force he normally reserves for cutting down monsters.

* * *

Red. Link sees red. And then the wind is knocked out of him for the second time in less than fifteen minutes. He’s picked up and hauled into the ocean, strong arms around him pulling him into a huge chest. 

They crash into the sea, shimmering brightness all-encompassing, and then he’s forced from the strong arms holding him.

Link tumbles into the deep sea. For a moment everything is water and salt and blue. He hadn't had time to hold his breath and he comes up coughing, head spinning.

When he opens his eyes he sees honey yellow dyed bright by the midday sun.

“ _Si_ –”

\---

Standing in water that barely reaches his shoulders, Sidon pulls Link close into him and leans down and kisses his pink lips quiet.

Immediately he sucks in water through his gills. His mouth is cool from being out here in the sea, but his body is a warm weight pressing against Sidon’s chest, a warm weight he has felt on his back and on his thighs, one that had carried him over a vertical cliffside, one that had fought and slept beside him for over a month. One gone quick enough to leave him cold.

Sidon leans down further. There are faint sounds of displacing water as he moves. He kisses Link’s lips until they are just as warm as the rest of him.

Slowly, he pulls back and notices that he is shaking. “You _left_ ,” he says against Link’s mouth, “You cannot-” Link’s eyes are wide and searching, his lips are still parted showing two rows of square teeth that are so different from his own. Hands holding the full width of his lower back, Sidon digs his claws into peach skin, never enough to hurt. Link smells like fire and earth and light and heat when Sidon leans back down to kiss him again.

The Hylian makes a noise, some small but sure one, and briefly a smaller mouth parts to kiss him back.

Sidon pulls away again, breathless. “You cannot do that and _leave_ ,” he says, staring wildly down at the other man, the wide ocean all around them.

Pink lips hang open, but only familiar silence makes its way out. Link’s hands are underwater, pressed against Sidon’s chest – occupied at any rate.

Easy enough to rectify.

Blue eyes blow wide when Sidon lifts him up by his waist. He sets Link down on one of the docks outlining the shore, plunking him on the edge without effort. Sidon stays in the water, standing near Link's bare knees, and he waits. When the blond continues to be no more forthcoming, he sets a hand on one of his knees, small hairs soft all the way down his shaped calf.

Link looks at his hand, his mouth snapping shut. 

At that, Sidon starts to wonder if he’d read everything wrong. Perhaps kisses were a normal Hylian farewell? Link’s never kissed him goodbye _before_ but why else would such a lost expression be on the face in front of him?

Like he can hear his thoughts – though perhaps Sidon has a lost expression of his own – Link sets both of his peach hands over the red one on his knee and shakes his head. One hand lifts and Link’s palm reaches out, signing ‘wait’ – but it drops, fingers falling apart like a stutter. Then both of his hands come towards Sidon’s face, holding his jaw to keep him still. 

Link slips forward off the dock to kiss him, falling against his body like a sigh.

\---

Words had lost meaning inside Link’s head. He’d tried to arrange them, to ask a question or explain himself or anything, anything, but yellow eyes were filling the scope of his vision and claws were at his skin and the weeks of wanting were fresh in his heart.

Link holds onto a white jaw, perching his knees somewhere on the upper parts of Sidon’s ribs, holding onto him like a large red-on-white tree. Reaching a hand up under one of his fins, he holds Sidon’s head as he leans in and kisses along the full length of his wider mouth. White lips part, maybe in surprise; Link tilts his head, letting his lips drag as he shifts. Some low-throated noise slips out from Sidon, coming from his chest, and Link’s heart thrills.

After a moment he’s pushed back gently. A clawed finger is on his chest; the broken one. Looking at it with half-fogged eyes, Link grabs the finger and brings the whole hand up to his mouth.

He kisses opaque blue claws, then down the white side of his fingers, stopping at the palm. His eyes are closed and he doesn’t remember shutting them.

“Link…”

Why does he sound so surprised? Link kisses the palm of his large hand again, starts at the heel of it and slips up to the base of his fingers. Sidon’s other arm is around his back, keeping him held in place against the Zora. Mindless of anything else he pulls the hand at his mouth back down, kissing those claws again, senses flooded with the smell of ozone, head empty of thoughts, only the hand taking up the width of his lower back and the gentle press of sharp claws against his lips.

“Link.” 

Sidon says his name like he can’t believe what he’s seeing, what’s being done to him. Still hardly anything but a vessel for action, Link takes the wrist with both of his hands, moving Sidon’s single hand to his clavicle. The claws rest against his neck. Link sighs, some loose breath that falls out of him as if falling apart. Leaning back in, he presses their chests together. Sidon’s a great white expanse of muscle he slots himself into. Link fits himself right in the middle, hands falling down to press against the chest under him, thighs holding as much as they can reach.

Sidon gasps softly, water and air sucked through gills in a rush. The vibration works its way through his long body and Link’s head goes white with friction. He sighs again, this one rough and half through his nose, and kisses the wide white expanse of skin he’s pressed into.

“ _Link_ ,” Sidon says. Two fingers push themselves under his chin, lifting Link’s head back up to eye-level. When Link opens his eyes he sees blue-tinted skin. Honey yellow. Brilliant sharp teeth. Red fins. The angular crest of his mantle.

Sidon’s other hand is still on his lower back, holding him in close. “I am more than fond of your preference for actions rather than words,” he says, pressing with the claws on his back. Link’s breath hitches but he doesn’t think it’s loud enough for Sidon to notice. “But I… I would like to _talk_. For a moment. I have a great deal of questions,” he finishes, looking like he’s sorry for having them.

Link shakes his head, meaning that Sidon shouldn’t be sorry for anything, and definitely not for having questions. Link has so many his head had clouded over. 

But the Zora only looks more confused. “You do not have any of your own?”

Link’s mouth flaps uselessly. That isn’t what he’d been saying ‘no’ to. He starts to shake his head again, but realizes that’s just going to be confusing too, and so he stays still. 

With their bodies lined up like this, he can feel Sidon breathing. Can feel the strong pulse of his heart. Closing his eyes, Link tries to focus on that. 

It’s only been four days since he left Sidon in the Domain. It takes Link two days to make that journey, but most travelers need at least six.

Sidon had been _running_. He’d thrown himself out of the woods and tackled Link into the water. 

Pulled him in and kissed him.

How? How can Sidon be _here_? Is he dreaming?

Opening his eyes, Link pushes himself off the Zora. His mouth is useless right now, at least for words, so he pulls himself back onto the dock. 

Sitting up on the wooden planks puts them at eye level. Link reaches out and places Sidon’s hands on his knees, had liked the warm weight earlier.

His fingers stutter around what to say, signing out of order. _You. Here. How._ But he takes a deep breath, focuses and says what he means: 

_You’re here._

Sidon grins, and the fact of it blaring out in front of Link again nearly pulls him back into the water. His head reels with snapshots of that grin, on the river, in the woods, in the desert, under a black starry sky, in a shrine, in that cabin they’d taken shelter in. Link had thought he’d never see it again. Not like that. Not this close.

“I am,” Sidon says. 

_How?_

“I walked.”

 _When?_ Link shakes his head, dropping his hands and trying again. _How long?_

Sidon’s hands climb up his leg, stopping on his thighs. “I do not know. I left the moment you vanished on me. How long has it been since then?”

 _Four days._

“Ah.”

Link frowns at him. _You crossed Lanayru._

“I knew you would not stay here for very long, if you were even here at all,” the Zora says, claws digging gently into Link’s thighs. “Yet I do not think you are in a position to be angry with me.” Link is given a glare with no real heat, but full of meaning regardless. “And I continue to forget I should be upset with you.” A thumb rubs down his hip, one of Sidon’s hands traveling further up his thigh. “If I had not found you here, what should I have done? You can be anywhere in all of Hyrule in a flash of blue light. I could not tell you… I would not be able to do… oh Link I might never have found you! Not for months, at least. Not unless I enlisted palace help, which I would not be allowed to do, or until you decided to wander into my home again. And what would I say to you after so many months? How would I… Why…”

Link shakes his head. With a simple circle drawn over his heart, he says, _I’m sorry_. He watches water well up in yellow eyes. Sidon gets teary pretty easily, but these tears are Link’s fault, a result of his own fear.

“I was surprised to be kissed but I was not at all unhappy.” White lips open into a wide pout, and sharp teeth show plainly as he speaks. “As I hope is apparent now.” 

Link sets a hand over the red one on his right thigh, looking into yellow eyes and willing his mouth to work.

“Why did you leave?” Sidon asks, voice tight as if wrung out like a rag.

_Afraid._

“Danger?”

Link shakes his head. They’d use these signs and the ones they’d created for weeks, but weeks was not enough time to memorize them all. Link isn’t sure if he used the wrong one or if Sidon had read it wrong. 

“I was afraid,” he manages, his throat tight.

“ _Why_?” Sidon asks wildly, as if the very thought itself was impossible. 

Link grips at the hand on his thigh again, rubbing at long fingers, trying to center himself on one single idea. “I don’t… I don’t know anyone else like you.” His throat locks up, choked for a moment. He grits his teeth and tries again. “You treat me… You…” Giving up on his voice, Link lifts his hands up once more. _You worry, but you don’t tell me to stop._

“Stop? Stop what?”

“Exactly.”

“What?”

_Remember the lynel?_

“The lynel?”

Link nods. _You stood and watched._

Sidon grins, and claws dig gently into his thighs. “You lit the entire field on fire! What a _sight_.”

_Were you worried I’d get hurt?_

“Of course I worried. I worry about you fairly consistently. But as I’ve said before, I _believe_ in you, Link. For all your recklessness, there is simply nothing you can’t handle.” Sidon frowns, a few teeth poking into his bottom lip. He rubs his thumb across Link’s outer thigh in a slow circle. “I am at a loss, my friend. What do you mean?”

 _I like it. I like us._ “If…” Link deflates and does the sign for ‘destroy,’ a held fist then opened into curled fingers. He’d made this one up. Thought it looked like the explosions the guardians made. 

“If…” Sidon repeats, studying Link’s hands. After a moment he seems to catch on. “You were afraid of ruining things between us?” he asks. Link nods, looking sadly into yellow eyes. Two large hands slide up his legs, stopping to hold him at his hips now, Sidon leaning in closer and looking heartbroken. “You could not. You _can_ not.”

Hands held between them, Link signs, _You wouldn’t look at me. After we talked in the desert._

“We talked often in the desert. When exactly do you mean?” Sidon asks, the question overly urgent, staring down at Link’s hands.

 _When I told you I thought I was…_ He doesn’t have a sign for ‘sick’ so he drops his hands. Link opens his mouth, which fails him.

“When you told me you wished for Ganon’s return, and I told you wanting purpose did not make you– _wrong_ , somehow.” 

Link nods. _You wouldn’t look at me._

“I do not think you are somehow corrupted, if that is what you mean. You are _nothing_ but light. Even your manic behaviour comes from love. Why…”

Link shakes his head. _I know. I don’t think that anymore._ He smiles, small and a bit sly. _You like fighting as much as I do._

Sidon smiles back at him, his head lifting slightly and fins shifting across his neck with the motion. Link is lost staring at a white throat until a bright voice brings him back. 

“Your energy is infectious, I am helpless _not_ to be pulled in,” Sidon says. His smile falls, a nervous expression taking over as he speaks again. “As for not looking at you, I suppose you could say I was… preoccupied.” White cheeks flush a pale blue, barely visible in the sunlight. Link only watches, leaning forwards on his place on the dock, afraid to miss any detail. Sidon swallows, the sound clearly audible, and then looks down at where his hands have Link by his hips; claws are resting up his waist. “You left so suddenly, and all I could think of was how warm you had felt in my arms. I did not remember ever intending to hold you. Yet I did, and then when you were gone, all I had was this strange, weighted emptiness.” Sidon rubs both thumbs down the side of each of Link’s hips and says, “This empty place, right here.”

Link feels a hot wind unfurl inside his lower stomach while those warm hands hold him.

“I could not describe my own excitement at watching you return. It was not rational. You were gone less than half an hour.” He smiles shyly. “Yet I saw your hair and face come into the light of our fire, and I thought… Oh, _Link_. How can you expect me to say all this out loud?” 

Warm hands leave his hips, and then Sidon hides his face behind them. 

Link wants to say something, do anything, take his hands away from his face and kiss all of his claws—

“You were beautiful, and you were returning to _me_ ,” the Zora says into his palms, “when you could have been anywhere else you pleased. How lucky was I? To have your constant company, your focus, your…” He trails off, turning his head down further into his hands.

“I was merely embarrassed. I was sure you’d notice, somehow, that I could not stop staring. And I did not know how _long_ I had been unable to stop staring. When had I _started_? When had I first noticed your soft hair? Your rough hands? The focused way you look at me, the careful way you say my name?” Blue claws slip up against the overhang of his crest as he curls in on himself. “Certainly I have always been fond of you but at what point did your protective nature devour me whole?”

At his limit, Link leans forward on the docks. He takes Sidon’s wrists and pulls his hands away from his face. White cheeks are dyed faintly blue, eyes darkened with wide pupils. But they don’t rise to meet Link’s own. 

“Sidon.”

The Zora stares over to his left, mouth hanging open to show his teeth, looking desperate and miserable. Does he think he’s alone in all of this? Link had always liked him a lot too, but he didn’t think… He’d never...

Ducking his head down, still holding both of Sidon’s large hands by their wrists, Link leans in and kisses him again. The gasp he’s given in return makes his heart leap. He pulls Sidon’s hands into his chest, kissing him slowly, feeling the clean edges of white lips under his own. Sidon’s mouth is wider, his lips fuller. Link breathes out through his nose and leans in further, sitting at the very edge of the dock.

He moves his mouth along Sidon’s lower lip, tilting his head to kiss across the full length of it. Friction hazes his senses as their lips drag together. There’s so much of him to kiss; moving his mouth to kiss at his top lip next, Link hears another low noise come from the Zora. He pulls Sidon’s hands flat against his chest. His fingers crowd, not enough space for both of his hands, but those claws graze Link’s skin and Link sighs helplessly. They’re on his clavicle, almost on his throat.

Pulling back, he sets his forehead on the underside of Sidon’s crest. He closes his eyes, panting for air. He can hear gills filtering water faster than they usually do. “Sidon,” he says again, willing himself to say more. _Anything_. 

Nothing comes. But he presses into his mantle, and hopes for now that’s enough.

He feels Sidon press back, the arrow of his head moving to rub against Link’s fringe. “After that…” the Zora starts, his voice low and whispered. “Do you… Link.” His whispered voice cracks, a dry sound scraping from his vocal cords. “I have been under the impression you have a lover.”

Link pulls back in a jolt, eyes wide. 

Sidon looks at him like he’s ashamed. “This only added to my mounting confusion. You took me to that lake, you… I do not know how Hylians do this sort of thing, but certainly a heart shaped lake would have universal implications. And the way you held me in Riju’s throne room. How… How could that... But Chief Riju told me you were visiting someone inside her city, and you were _hours_ late after our meeting, and I could not… If you had someone else, then it was me alone in my longing–”

Shaking his head, Link leans forward and kisses him again, slipping a hand along his larger jaw this time. It’s all he can do. Still sitting on the dock, he sets his feet on either side of Sidon’s mid-back, and Link pulls him in with his legs. The faint splashes of shifting water as the Zora comes in between his thighs makes Link’s head spin. Trailing a hand from his jaw to his lips, he replaces the kiss with his fingers, touching a white mouth and staring with half-lidded eyes. He wants to touch his teeth but worries Sidon might find that weird.

“I want…” The blond manages, fingertips gliding over a white lower lip, eyes stuck on the gentle indentations he creates with pressure. 

“ _Is_ there someone waiting for you? Is–”

Link shakes his head. For good measure he says it out loud, too. “ _No_.”

“So all of that–”

“ _Yes_.”

“Oh,” Sidon replies, his breath on Link’s fingers and no strength behind the word. His eyes are welling up with water again. “Oh.”

Link wipes under them with the thumb, then moves to hold the side of his face. “You’re it.” 

“Oh,” comes an even weaker reply.

“Sidon.” Link sets their foreheads together again, pressing up under the crest of his mantle, his legs still pulling the Zora in. His throat ties up in knots he tries desperately to undo. He closes his eyes. “I’ve liked you since we met,” he says.

Large hands that had bunched up against his chest shift, claws pressing in more. They never hurt, are always a soft sharpness that sends his head into a feathery spin. 

“That was more than a full year ago,” Sidon says.

The blond nods against the underside of his mantle. “It wasn’t… like this. Like now. But.” He presses up and into his crest, trying to get his meaning across. 

“Link.”

Unless Sidon asks him to again, Link is done talking. He’s bad at words and there’s a lot more he can say without them. 

\---

Sidon makes a high pitched sound as he’s pulled in by the legs around his sides once more, and another one when he’s kissed. As stilted and slow as Link is with words, he more than makes up for it with his actions. The legs around his sides hold him in tight, strong calves pressing against his gills. Link’s only just big enough to reach him the full way around but this doesn’t seem to hinder him any. Heels dig into Sidon’s back and hands slide up to find his cheeks; his head is tilted and he’s kissed so thoroughly he feels as if he were made to do nothing else. 

Link slips further forward on the dock, grabbing more of Sidon with his legs until his smaller frame is pressed flush against Sidon’s own. Pink lips fall open, parting over the entirety of Sidon’s mouth, dragging closed across it with focused intent. The friction sends heat surging down his thighs, the contrast vivid under cool ocean water. 

Link falls fully off the dock and Sidon catches him in his arms, lifting him up from under his rear, this fact sending further heat shooting down his body. 

“Beach,” Link breathes against his lips.

Holding Link above the sea, Sidon walks them out of the deeper water. He’s kissed as he goes and does his best to stay steady on weak knees. All those weeks together, the freezing winds of Lanayru, the hot days in the desert, all the nights by fire; all of that seems to be in every kiss planted on his mouth like a promise. 

As soon as they’re in shallow water, Link slips out of his arms, climbing down his front. He tugs Sidon towards a smattering of flat rocks, pulls him all the way down onto them. Sidon feels a bit mesmerised, being led around in complete silence, and can’t say at all that he dislikes it.

A strong hand on his shoulder pushes him, and Sidon lets himself be slowly forced on his back on warm rocks, heart racing. He barely has time to register it before Link, shirtless in the unyielding sun, is crawling on top of him. The Hylian lies down flat. He fits himself along the center of Sidon’s wide chest. And Sidon can feel everything. Link’s own strong chest, his rolling torso, his calloused hands; his shaped thighs pressed into his stomach; the weight that is familiar on his back now spread unabashedly along his front.

A blond fringe, wet and tangled, covers blue eyes. Sidon moves the hair away, letting his claws scratch behind his long ear. Link has a gem in one, glittering ruby red. His ears lead to the longer strands of hair he always keeps in front of them, and this to his jawline, down his throat and back up to his expressive eyebrows. There is still that pretty sleekness about him. Those long ears, the shape of his eyes. The way he looks determined despite the fog across his expression; the way his pink lips drop open and no sound comes out but he says a thousand things regardless.

“Link,” Sidon says, only half aware of his own voice. He can’t believe the Hylian is here, lying fully on top of him next to the sea and under the sun. Sidon has never done anything like this, has never felt this way or _wanted…_

It is not as if he is particularly old for a Zora, but he has never wanted this before, not with another person. Is there a way of this, he wonders, wherein desire does not flare unless affection comes first? He cannot say he ever stared at Link this vividly before. But now, drowning in this desperate feeling, in the memories of their month of traveling together, Sidon thinks he may faint if he does not have the Hylian on top of him.

He reaches a hand up and pulls Link down by the back of his neck. He kisses the pink lips above him; kisses the entirety of his smaller mouth, sighing through his gills at the warm body that shifts over his chest. Peach knees are falling down his sides, Link sinking onto him further, the small hairs and scarred skin rubbing along his gills.

A flat tongue pokes out and laps just barely against Sidon’s bottom lip. It’s thick, pink and short – the Zora knows from staring. The concentrated area of wet pressure sends sparks behind his eyes. He’s never imagined anything like it. Link traces a trail with calloused fingers down behind his neck, under his headtail, and kisses at his bottom lip, that tongue slipping out again, only the smallest touch.

Sidon feels his pelvis constrict, a tight twinge around his thighs. He turns his chin down to slip out of their kiss.

“Link.” 

The blond stops, pulling himself up to look down at Sidon with worry. 

Sidon’s mouth hangs open for a moment, lost for words as heat finds his cheeks. It is so hard to look directly into his blue eyes while they are… while Link is…

He has to look up at the sky instead.

“This beach is fairly… public?”

Link squints as if he doesn’t understand – and truly, Sidon knows, the Hylian likely doesn’t care. The outdoors is his home. What could be more private than that? Yet the village is just over that hill, and while in this moment Sidon feels as if he would like to kiss him under the late afternoon sun forever, he is also partial to privacy.

Link opens his mouth, shuts it, and opens it again. “You. You won’t fit on my bed.”

Sidon can’t help it. He laughs.

* * *

Link takes Sidon towards his house, leading him around the village as the sun begins to set. Sidon is quiet the whole way. Link remembers the first time he’d brought him to Hateno, how he’d had a lot to say, a string of never ending questions. 

The Zora is shy in some ways, he knows that; but they don’t need to do anything. As soon as he can, Link will tell him.

“This is your home?” Sidon asks once they cross the small bridge. “It’s lovely.”

Nodding, not really listening, he pulls Sidon through the front door of his house.

Link smiles when the Zora has to duck down low to clear the entryway. 

The first thing Sidon looks at is the weapons mounted on the walls. Then the pictures, the small indoor plants, and the apples sitting on his rarely-used table. All of these are from Uma and Bolson. His house doesn’t have a lot of character, a lot of himself in it, but Link doesn’t spend much time here.

“It is very charming.”

They don’t have to do anything. He’ll tell Sidon that, as soon as his eyes get over the sight of him standing in his kitchen, as soon as his mouth and hands remember how to work. 

Link is happy just to have him here. He didn’t think for a second he’d be vaulted into the ocean and kissed quiet in fresh salt water. He didn’t think he’d ever hold Sidon again, not like they had on their trek together, or see his razored teeth up close. Never hear him laugh while the force vibrates Link’s whole body, never watch his eyes shift through shades of sunlight under the roaring heat of a fire.

But Sidon is here. He’d left the Domain, turned around to go after him; climbed Lanayru by himself; made it here in four days...

Link’s eyes widen with realization. 

“Do you… You’re…” He shakes his head and with his hands he asks, _Are you tired? We can sleep._

Teeth poke into his bottom lip before Sidon parts them fully to reply. 

“No.”

A short silence follows. Link wants to do a lot, but he wants to ask first, and his mouth and hands refuse to move. 

“Link.” That bright voice breaks through the awkward air in the dimly lit home, and Link looks up at him. “If… If you are of the same mindset… That is…. Link.” Sidon clears his throat, and the filaments of his gills vibrate slightly. “If you would also find it...” yellow eyes skirt away, “desirable, we...” They come back to him, and then look over at the wall-mounted weapons again. “Though I must confess I have not… That I have never….” 

It takes Link a few seconds to really hear him, his gaze trapped in the sweet way Sidon is trying to ask this question. But eventually, staring at his shy face, he catches on. 

“Sidon.” Finally, yellow eyes fall down to meet him. He takes a step forward and brings his hands up to talk. _Me neither._ Link smiles, only small, the action pulled from him as slitted pupils drop to his mouth. If he has with anyone, he doesn’t remember, and he’s sure he’s never been with a Zora. 

“Oh.” Sidon’s voice squeaks. His mouth stays in an awestruck gape, and large hands reach out – but then they drop. “Unless _you_ are tired?” He asks with clear concern. 

Taking another step forward, Link shakes his head.

“We do not need to. I am…” Slitted pupils blow wide, just like they had on the beach, and Sidon keeps talking, his mouth moving without its usual calm control, “I am fully indisposed with desire,” here his voice becomes rough, “you are far more alluring than I think you realize. But we… I am simply… simply glad to…”

Link takes one of those red hands and pulls it across the side of his face. He turns into it, kissing the wide palm firmly.

“Sidon.”

“Hm?”

Link lets go of the hand to use his own. His face is warm; no one’s ever called him something like _alluring_ before. He’d always thought he was just kind of a wild mess.

 _Pick you up_ , he says with his hands.

“What?”

Not explaining further, Link comes the rest of the way in, dropping into a squat.

\---

Feeling like nothing more than a heavy sack of flour in this Hylian-style kitchen, Sidon is lifted up off the wooden floor. 

“Link!”

The blond grins up at him. It clearly takes effort, but he begins to take a few steps.

“You– _You_ are–”

Through the laboured breathing and grunts of effort, he can hear soft laughter.

Having never been picked up in his adult life, the feeling is peculiar. The relinquish of control over his own body is wildly untethering; his clawed feet dangle under him and all of his weight is left to the man holding him up. The position of Link’s face, in relation to how he is carrying him, is far too suggestive as well. His calloused strong hands are gripping his thighs, his breath is warm on the lower parts of him; Sidon forces his gaze on the approaching stairs instead, but can feel it all regardless. 

He is carried up the small set of stairs, onto the atrium of the house. Link takes him all the way to his bed. Squatting, holding tight until the angle is correct, Link slips him out of his arms and onto the mattress.

When he’s placed on the bed all Sidon can do is sit there, stunned, his heart racing against his ribs. 

Link is panting for breath. His brow is slightly damp. Sidon moves hair away from his eyes, unable to speak for the moment. It should be no great thing, being carried. Being set on his bed as if laid claim to. 

Smiling a bit sideways at him, like his mouth truly forgets how to work properly, Link’s hands move.

_If you want to, I want to._

Sidon can only take his hands as if accepting the suggestion they ask, and nod.

\---

Link has no idea how to do anything with a Zora, but doesn’t plan on letting that get in his way. He’ll figure it out as he goes. As long as Sidon keeps making those low noises he’d made at the beach, he’ll know he’s doing something right.

He’s pulled forward by the hands holding both of his, and then Sidon lets him go, only to grab at his waist. The Zora picks him up and brings him onto his lap, Link’s thighs falling down on either side of Sidon’s own. 

The pressure between his legs, from anticipation and the sudden full warmth, pulls a strained noise from Link’s parted lips. The difference in their height is obvious like this – but Sidon bends down low and pulls Link up by his chin and kisses him soundly.

A wide mouth drags fully over Link’s own, overwhelming him. The careful press of sharp teeth follow and the blond gasps, nerves lighting up all the way down his spine. 

Link lifts himself as tall as he can while still keeping Sidon’s thighs pressed between his own. He reaches all the way up to his face, gliding fingers down both of his headfins at once, pulling Sidon’s full mouth against his own. A breath through gills puffs lightly along his shirtless torso. Link stretches up higher, lifting himself off of Sidon’s lap, only for his clothed half-hard cock to ache in protest.

He puts himself back down with a whining moan. Yellow eyes snap open, black slitted pupils blown wide for a beat.

Sidon is a full four feet longer than his bed. And sitting on him like this is amazing, but Link can’t reach all of him. Not like how he wants.

“This...” he starts, his voice raw while a small shiver runs through him. Claws are at his back, scratching lightly, yellow eyes focused on his mouth. “We need to lie down.”

“The floor is fine for me, if you do n–”

Link is already climbing out of his lap, his muscles flexing at the loss of warmth. 

He gathers all the blankets he has in the house, given to him by Uma for the colder months, and makes a nest of them on the floor next to his bed. He doesn’t want it to hurt so he piles fifteen in all, six of them thick with feathers. Rearranging them more than once, Link pats the mass of blankets, making sure it's soft before he’s done.

\---

Sidon watches with fond amusement as the Hylian arranges a place for them on the floor. Is this what is meant by being wooed? He certainly feels wooed. Zora have a different way of doing things, more formality and less sudden surprises; though Sidon prefers the surprises, prefers whatever is meant by Link laying out blankets and pillows for them to lie on.

The blond holds a hand out and Sidon takes it; lets himself be guided to the floor. Once lying down, he rests his head back on a mound of pillows Link points to. Even though it has happened multiple times by now, he can scarcely believe it when the Hylian climbs onto his front. Link sits himself on Sidon’s upper stomach, just under the bottom of his ribs, his thighs resting across his gills.

He shifts, only slightly, but Sidon feels that Hylian cock he’d gotten an accidental glance at weeks ago. It presses hard through his pants, rubbing itself plainly against his ribs. Pink lips fall open into a silent moan. 

A great heat unfurls down from Sidon’s chest, all the way to his thighs. He has seen a wide array of expressions on Link’s face, but never anything like this. He looks down at where his legs are splayed out over the sides of Sidon's upper stomach. Where Link is sat firmly on top of him. There’s an obvious bulge there beneath the beige pants. Face growing warm, he looks back up into blue eyes.

They are just as dizzying, and Sidon reaches up without meaning to. He threads his claws through blond hair, holding the back of his head, and brings Link down into a gentle kiss.

The blond grins as he’s pulled, kissing him fully, flattening his hips into Sidon’s ribs as he lies down on top of him. 

Sliding a hand from his hair to his back, Sidon slips his fingers along peach skin, senselessly pleased Link had never put a shirt on when they’d left the beach. He feels at his scars, the skin beautifully marked by the life of adventure he leads.

Link’s hips lift up and then press down into Sidon’s ribcage once more, and he can feel his cock rubbing against him, wonders at how it’s always out – how it always has been. Do Hylians live in a constant state of arousal? They cannot possibly. But a Zora’s only come out when they have reason to.

Link shudders with the action; his mouth parts against Sidon’s. Taken by the reaction Sidon presses his hands into the blond’s lower back, holding him still, and lifts his torso up. He grinds his ribs against Link’s clothed dick and hears a senseless moan fall out of him and into Sidon’s own mouth.

When he pulls away to look, Link’s blue eyes are lit with fire.

Sidon feels all air sucked from his lungs. He has never been stared at like that before.

Link drags himself along Sidon’s upper torso, his hard cock rubbing shamelessly as he moves. Sidon feels his face flush with heat, but he can’t stop himself from staring at the Hylian on top of him. Link leans in and kisses down Sidon’s cheek, then his jaw, mouth drawing a slow line to his throat, kissing over the decorative armour there. Dull teeth drag down his skin, across the bones of his clavicle, and then further down to his chest. 

Sidon is helpless to speak, but drags claws through his hair, not wanting him to stop.

\---

A low, growling moan fills his ears as Link moves. He has to crawl his whole body down Sidon’s long torso to kiss a trail across the full length of him. 

He stops at his stomach, unsure exactly how this all works, though he has an idea. 

Lifting himself carefully off of the Zora, Link moves backwards, setting himself between Sidon’s knees. 

The blond lets out a shaking breath, leans down, and presses his mouth into the Zora’s left hip. He moves one hand along warm, smooth skin, slipping under the long fins that skirt across his hips and over his rear. Sidon lets out a deep groan, the sound mountainous and loud. Grinning at the response, Link glides his both hands under those fins, dragging his fingernails along white and red thighs. 

When the Zora’s groans again, Link lifts his head to look. 

There’s nothing on Sidon’s groin. Nothing visible.

Kissing above it, right where his hip bones meet, Link slips one hand up to rub over his groin, just to see if it does anything. 

Sidon moans, this one rasped and shocked.

“ _Link_.”

He feels it. A small slit in the skin, one that hadn’t been there before. 

\---

Sidon covers his face with embarrassment. How can Link simply do that? How does he even know? Sidon recalls those books he found at the bazaar outside of Gerudo Town. They had detailed how to copulate with any species of any gender, and he could not resist taking a small peek. Had Link perhaps read these things before? He has spent a great deal of time in the desert city.

Or is he simply learning by doing, as he often does?

It is likely the latter, which makes him want to turn inside out with shyness. 

Warm fingers press into the slit that hides him, and Sidon sees white.

\---

That last moan had been nearly panicked. Link lifts his hand away from the slit of skin, eyes wide. From between his legs and across a long white torso, he looks over at the Zora. Sidon’s face is hidden in his hands, his head pushed back into the mound of pillows.

 _Too intense_ , Link reminds himself.

Sometimes all action and no words gets him in trouble. Not that Sidon looks like he hates it. He looks like he likes it too much, which isn’t bad, but… Link wants to make sure he’s comfortable, too.

He climbs back up onto his chest, sitting on top of Sidon’s ribs again, going slow.

Link touches the crest of his head, rubbing careful fingers down the row of spots there, and he waits.

“You did not need to… to stop,” Sidon says, still hiding his face.

Link scratches under his headtail. “I want you to enjoy it.”

“I assure you, I am.”

Link narrows his gaze at him. He lifts Sidon’s hands away from his face, and waits for him to open his eyes. His pupils are blown wide, so wide the yellows are just thin ovals around black. “Are you okay?” Link asks.

Sidon nods.

“What do you need me to do?”

He closes his eyes again, shaking his head. “This part is only… This is how it is for me.” Sidon rubs under the crest of his mantle. When he opens his eyes again, his slitted pupils are still wide. “I am alright, I swear. You do not need to protect me here any more than you do in the wilds of Hyrule,” he says with a strained laugh.

Link takes the hand from Sidon’s mantle to his own mouth, kissing his blue claws. “Yes I do,” he says into his fingers. “Are you really okay?”

He nods. “This part for all Zora is… sensuous. Yet for me it has always been overwhelmingly so.” Sidon shudders, one long shake all the way down the full length of his torso. The vibration rubs Link’s straddling hips against him and he fights back a noise. “Link, if you do not wish to continue, I am able to do so on my own. The pressure is—”

Not needing to be told twice, Link kisses his claws one last time, and then slips back down between his thighs. 

The slit of skin has parted more. There’s something inside, and with that he has his suspicions confirmed. Now all he needs to do is get it _out_. Link sets his fingers along the opening and pushes in, not too hard, having no frame of reference for how much pressure would be good.

Sidon’s hips lift off the ground. He moans, high and needing; the slit parts even further under his fingers. Just barely he can see something poking between the skin, the tip of something. It’s just as white as the rest of his pelvis, almost like marble. Gently, Link slips two fingers between the slit, only up to their first knuckle, touching the top of whatever’s trying to come through. 

\---

Sidon’s head is filled with a booming whiteness, with stars and light and heat. His eyes are shut tight, pupils too wide to see anything regardless. Every ounce of feeling centers to his cocks, Link’s fingers coaxing him open, coaxing them out. Every Zora is reactionary to this part of sex but Sidon has always been wildly sensitive to the process. 

Not that he has a lot of… experience. 

Not any. Not with anyone but himself.

Link’s fingers push in farther, this part not typical for a Zora (claws make it impossible); he’d never thought about fingers inside him while his cocks work themselves free. He feels nothing but the overwhelming pressure, a fullness in his groin of fingers and his own cocks, all of it wet and hot. Sidon moans lowly, lifting his hips, heels slipping across the blanks beneath him.

He hears Link breathe in sharply. Had he seen that there was more than one? Was he appalled? Sidon wants to tell him not to be, please don’t be, none of the differences in their bodies had mattered to them thus far so this one should not either—

A warm wet tongue presses into the slit of skin, now wide from teasing. Sidon’s throat constricts as a choked moan surges from him, raucous and dry, feeling like it cracks through his chest. Link’s tongue presses inside him further, slipping between his still-sheathed cocks, hot breath ghosting against his wet skin. Sidon moans again as Link moves his tongue around, slipping it in and out, rubbing it against the tips of each cock, licking down the tight line between them. It’s hot and flat and deliberate and Sidon loses all sense of himself in panting gasps. His claws dig helplessly at the blankets under him.

Heat overwhelms him like it always does. One hard shudder shakes through his whole body as Sidon’s dicks finally slip out.

\---

Link stares with wide eyes. Sidon's cocks emerge slowly, seeming to morph through the slit strangely; but it’s not strange, it’s just something he’d never seen before. 

They’re side by side, now completely out, no slit of skin visible as if they’d never been inside in the first place. They’re both white, the same shape and size. They’re different from a Hylian’s. The underside of the tips are lined in a way that reminds Link of the fins on Sidon’s shoulders. The shafts are ribbed in a way that reminds him of his gills, rolling mounds of raised flesh all the way down both of them.

They’re connected at the base by a knoll of skin – which maybe functions like balls do, because Sidon has none otherwise. The base of each cock is wide. There’s space between them, enough that he won’t have to take two. The heads are more pointed than a Hylian’s. Everything is white. They’re pretty, mesmerizing in a lurid way, like two tall towers of sculpted marble.

They’re both wet, too, glistening with some sort of natural lubricant which has Link’s lips parting in wonder. 

Sidon’s heavy breathing brings him out of his trance.

Looking across his torso at him, Link sees that Sidon is still pressed back into the pillows. His cocks coming out had clearly been an experience for the Zora; Link’s not sure he’ll ever get those rough moans out of his head. Slipping out of his place between Sidon’s legs, he climbs up his chest again, setting himself on his ribs.

He’s about to sign something, but Sidon – still pressed back into the pillows – speaks first.

“I… I hope you do not find it… I feel I must apologize, your— your _tongue…_ it… and I should have perhaps told you Zora have…” Either because of embarrassment or overstimulation, Sidon isn’t able to finish one thought before he starts another. “I am sorry,” he says, hiding his eyes again.

Link frowns down at him. “Why?”

“I do not…” Hips behind him shift upwards, lifting Link slightly too, and Sidon sighs deeply through his gills. “I feel so _unraveled_.”

Wordlessly, Link wraps peach hands around three big fingers each and pulls them away from Sidon’s face. 

Yellow eyes have seconds to stare at him before Link leans down. He presses his forehead in under the left side of his mantle. His lips press into his headfin, at the place where it meets the arrow-shaped mantle, and he kisses it, a deliberate drag of his mouth. 

“I hope you do not find them strange,” Sidon says quietly.

Link presses up into the underside of the ridge over the Zora’s face, shaking his head slightly. Then, with all the ease he can show through the action, he slips himself off of Sidon. 

Standing up, he hooks his thumbs into the hemline of his pants. He pulls them down, letting his own hard cock slip out, looking pointedly at yellow eyes. Sidon’s mouth opens and he sits up quickly; his gaze drops to Link's cock and then he blinks a few times, which only makes Link breathe out a soft laugh.

Tossing his pants forgotten behind him, he signs, _Is mine weird to you?_

Sidon shakes his head. “It’s…”

_It doesn’t go inside._

“I had noticed.”

Link climbs back on top of him, setting himself lower on his torso, just forward of Sidon’s cocks. The Zora is still sitting up, which means Link is looking far up at yellow eyes, but the height difference had never bothered him. None of their differences do. 

“Does it bother you?” he asks with his words, and then with his hands: _Is there anything you want to know?_

“You are so…”

Link raises one blond eyebrow, smirking up at him.

Sidon looks at his mouth, and then down at his hips. His cheeks are pale blue and his voice is nearly silent. 

“May I touch it?”

Link nods, moving up further along his torso, the action more intimate now that he’s naked. 

_You don’t need to ask._

Claws carefully held away, large fingers press along the base of Link’s cock. The blond sucks back a sharp breath. Sidon’s hand is big and it’s all Link can focus on, the drastic difference in size. He glides the pads of his fingers up the shaft, and Link’s stomach flips over with heat. He’s not usually this sensitive – not when he does this by himself. But he remembers that back massage, and how these hands had done that to him, and his mouth parts in a soft moan.

Sidon’s eyes widen and his hand pulls back. 

Link bites at his bottom lip, trying to keep quiet.

“May I do it again?”

He nods.

Sidon’s fingers trace around the bottom of his tip, a little more pressure this time; not enough, but another moan unfolds up Link’s throat anyway. 

“Can you, _ah_ –” Sidon had moved down to the base, his fingers rubbing flatly down one side of his dick. _Grab it_ , Link says with his hands.

The width of Sidon’s palm is longer than his shaft. When he closes his hand around Link, it disappears in red. That hand is everywhere, drowning his cock in heat, on every inch of him. Link closes his eyes, hips bouncing up involuntarily. 

“Does this feel good?” Sidon asks, honest curiosity all across his face.

Link wants to give him a flat _Are you serious_ look, but he’s cut off by his own stiff moan, lifting his hips to slide his cock against Sidon’s palm again.

He watches yellow eyes widen; watches a long tooth-lined mouth fall open as Sidon stares. The hand around Link moves, tightening and shifting up. The blond feels friction drag on every part of his cock. He pushes up into Sidon’s fist again and again until his eyes close. A clawed finger moves hair away from his face, tucking some behind his ear.

“Si–” he tries, but the sound dissolves into a low pant.

\---

At the frantic gasping coming from his mouth, Sidon’s heart speeds up. Link is simply _going_ for it. He is going to expend himself by rubbing his cock into Sidon’s hand. That should not be surprising. It is not, really; but the desperation is wildly intoxicating. Link’s lack of shyness, the silent determination, the pretty way his hair continues to slip out from behind his long ears… It is all too much. 

Sidon reaches up to move his hair back again, letting his claws scratch gently around one outer shell. 

An airy gasp falls from Link’s mouth, this one higher pitched than the others. Needing no more of a hint than that, Sidon drags his claws around the ear again, this time letting it caress all the way to the pointed tip.

The Hylian shivers.

“Your ears are fascinating,” Sidon says, his voice low and rough.

Blue eyes open, a dark heat inside them. Moving hair across his forehead again Sidon leans down to kiss the next moan that falls from his mouth.

Link’s broad chest is heaving; his muscled thighs flex as he ruts himself up into Sidon’s fist. He is not exceptionally loud – although the small moans are constant. Yet his whole body speaks for him. His thighs, his chest, the muscles of his abs rolling as he bends his spine to bury himself in the heat of Sidon’s hand. His lips hang apart, soundless moans falling out followed by dry gasps. 

The cock in Sidon’s hand is warm. It’s fairly large compared to the Hylian’s frame, and is similar in colour to his skin though darker near the tip. It’s just as strong as the rest of him, somehow. It does not feel at all delicate in his hand. 

Sidon tightens his grip.

A shuddering moan slips out from that ever-quiet mouth. Link gasps after it, a hand coming up to tug through blond hair, expression alight and a bit wild as it is during combat.

“You’re amazing,” Sidon says, the words falling out with a great deal of air; Link meets his eyes for a moment and continues moving his hips. “You are.” Sidon moves his hand in turn, letting it drag across the warm skin it fully encases. “I cannot believe this is… that we are…”

Link goes red all the way to the tips of his pointed ears. Sidon reaches out with his free hand to touch at one again. He runs the pad of his finger over the top, down the outside, letting his claw scratch. He feels under the lobe, where a ruby earring sits now. Sliding his fingers back up, Sidon traces across one of the ridges inside, caressing the tip again. He moves blond hair behind it, transfixed at the proud angle of his ears, at the way touching them seems to force blue eyes to flutter until they close. 

Still moving, Link takes the red hand from his ear. He pulls it to his mouth and kisses at his claws again. Seems fond of doing so.

Then he drops it, and starts moving his hips at a faster pace, lifting on and off of Sido’s lower stomach, only inches away from his own two cocks. 

They throb with heat, but Sidon remains focused, is determined to.

Link takes the thumb of Sidon’s hand and slips it over the top of his grip. Shifting on his thighs, he moves so he can press the tip of his cock into Sidon’s thumb with each thrust. The Zora lowers his hand as much as possible to let Link’s head rub along his thumb.

He swipes at his fringe again, pulling blond air out of his face while Link seems to fall apart in the rhythm. His eyes still closed, and Sidon watches everywhere: his thighs, his jawline, the sweat that rolls from his temple down his throat, his gaping mouth, the small frantic noises filling the room.

Sidon swipes his thumb across the tip of Link’s cock, and the blond lets out a choked moan. Setting a hand on Sidon’s lower stomach he steadies himself and begins moving faster. His thrusts become less organized, more chaotic; Link’s hair falls into his face and Sidon moves it away for him again, his heart in his mouth as he watches the blond come undone.

\---

“ _Si_ – Ah–” Stuttering sounds slip out of him and Link comes in a wave of heat. He holds onto Sidon’s hand around his cock, forcing him to grip tighter, and gasps as the oragasm shakes him apart. 

He lifts his hips off of Sidon, pushing himself further into that hand, riding the feeling until its end. 

Semen spills out and over, covering red skin and opaque claws.

Link looks up into yellow eyes, panting in the last wave of it; Sidon meets his gaze with a dizzy one and then he’s leaning down to kiss him. Blearily, Link gasps and kisses him back. He takes a few breaths against his mouth, his spine shaking slightly. Sidon smells like fresh morning rain and it’s all he can focus on.

“Are you alright?” Sidon asks, leaning down and pressing their foreheads together, hand still held over his cock.

Link nods. He’s more than alright, but can’t hope to say anything. Breaths shallow, he rests his head against that red crest for a long while. His heart thuds against his skull like thunder.

When he pulls back, his breathing is back to normal.

“Sidon.”

The Zora isn’t listening. He’s looking at the cum covering his hand. Belatedly Link realizes some of it is on his claws. He doesn't think he’ll ever touch himself without picturing it again. If he weren’t so bone-tired he’d take that hand for sure, but he can’t move.

A long blue tongue slips out, the tip pointed. Sidon brings his hand to his mouth and licks it clean.

“Salty,” he says, and then, “Sweet, too.” The Zora grins down at him, all sharp teeth. That tongue is gone but Link had gotten an eyeful. “How fitting, considering the source.”

Link stares, stunned. How does Sidon do that? Go from so shy to… _that_.

“It is because of you,” the Zora says, all confidence gone suddenly; Link hadn't realized he'd spoken out loud. “You are unabashed, and so I feel confident in turn. Is that alright? I can– I did not mean to do anything strange–”

Rising on wobbling thighs to reach, Link grabs the sides of Sidon’s great white face and pulls him down for a kiss. He slips back a bit when Sidon pushes in to return it, and feels his ass run up against both of Sidon’s fully-hard cocks. Sidon makes a surprised noise. Link shifts, dragging his ass against them with intent, kissing Sidon’s wide mouth until he’s given a low moan for his efforts.

He pulls back, letting Sidon go because he’s sure it hurts for him to bend down so far. _You’re perfect_ , Link says with his hands. _Thank you._

Sidon only stares down at him, lost somewhere between shocked and worried. “You do not need to thank me. You make such _noises_. I have never…” His hips lift up, and one of his cocks rubs against Link. It seems to surprise the Zora – the sound that slips through sharp teeth is higher pitched, almost a whine. 

Link opens his mouth but nothing comes out. His senses focus on the warmth behind him. He shifts to one side, letting Sidon’s other cock press between his ass, and locks his eyes on yellow ones, just to watch his slitted pupils blow wide.

“ _Link_.”

He lets a playful grin flash across his face and raises his hands. _Feel good?_ he asks.

Sidon looks down at him, his teeth barely showing through sparsely parted lips. 

_Can I try something else?_

The Zora nods. 

Link lets his hands drag across white skin as he slips back down between Sidon’s thighs. Even with all the thick blankets, the floor can’t feel good. He doesn’t want this to hurt him at all.

 _Lie down_ , he says with his hands.

Expression flooded with shy anticipation, the Zora does, lying his head back against the pillows.

Lips pressed with focus, Link grabs two red ankles. He pulls Sidon’s legs on either one of his shoulders and lifts him slightly; the Zora practically squeaks but Link only finds this sweet, and he smiles over at him. 

Hands free, the blond reaches for one of the larger pillows around them. _Okay?_ he asks, signing around Sidon’s legs with his unoccupied hand.

“Oh… You…” The Zora seems to give up on talking, and, biting his bottom lip, nods instead.

Link slides the pillow under Sidon’s hips, right at the base of his spine. Then he slips his legs off his shoulders, setting his tailbone down on the pillow, and his legs back on the floor.

 _Don’t want it to hurt_.

“What are we– What do you want…”

 _Inside me_ , he signs, grin slicing up the side of his face. _Both_.

Sidon’s jaw drops open, flashing sharp teeth. “ _Link_.”

The blond only laughs, a quiet shaking sound, covering his mouth with his hand.

_You don’t want to?_

“ _I_ don’t want to hurt _you_.” Sidon pouts at him, concern all through the expression. “Let’s start with one. I…” white cheeks flare with pale blue as his own words catch up to him. “I, that is, if you… We can… We should… We…”

Link laughs again. He can’t stop the smile that spreads across his mouth, and his heart speeds up when Sidon’s shy pout turns into a smile of his own. 

_It’s okay_ , Link signs. Careful to crawl over his two cocks, he climbs onto Sidon’s lower torso. The Zora is still lying back against the pillows, looking up at him. _I’m nervous too. But this is fun, right?_

“More than fun,” Sidon says.

Grinning, Link rubs his ass down one of Sidon’s cocks again. _Do you want to try it?_

Yellow eyes fog over with feeling, dropping down to where they’re connected. “If you… If you are certain you would enjoy it.”

Link nods. “Sidon,” he says with his mouth, just to see his slitted pupils slip up to his lips. _I’ve wanted to for a long time_ , he finishes with his hands.

“A long…”

The blond watches yellow eyes widen with a grin. 

Link moves to stick his fingers in his mouth, having no other item for the job and no other way to prep himself. 

Sidon moves to sit up fully, his long torso rising from the floor, and grabs his wrist. “I…” Link looks up at him, waiting while his heart thuds hard wanting to hear what he thinks Sidon is about to say. “I cannot use my fingers, for reasons I’m sure are obvious.” His words are less shy, less nervous; Sidon looks directly down at him and holds his wrist still. “However, if it would be… if it is not too much for you, I would like...” A tongue as blue as his cheeks slips out. The contrast between his white lips draws Link’s eyes in, and sends his heartbeat into a frenzy.

It’s not nearly as thick as either of his cocks, but Link doesn’t care; he nods, eyes narrowed in on Sidon’s tongue between his pointed teeth. Unthinking, he grinds himself back against one of those cocks again.

After a small intake of air through gills, Sidon says, “You already thought of this.”

Link nods again, gaze still focused on his tongue.

“Can I surprise you with nothing?”

Smirking, the blond shrugs. _I don’t know, can you?_

Blushing right down to his collarbone, Sidon’s mouth opens and closes, looking scandalized. Frowning without heat, he wraps his hands around Link’s waist.

Sidon lifts him off of his body. He sets Link carefully on the blankets next to him, and then the Zora stands all the way up. 

From the floor Link feels very small. He doesn’t move. Wants to see what Sidon will do.

“You are so–” He cuts himself off, sighing through his gills. He looks at Link sitting on the blankets, gaze roaming from his feet to his ears; Link turns to face him more, his head a mess while he’d held under an unwavering stare.

Falling to his knees, Sidon reaches down and sets his hands on Link’s waist, moving him without effort. He lies Link on his back along the blankets. Yellow eyes watch his cock for a moment, but flicker back up to his face. 

“You are driving me mad, do you know that?” Sidon says, leaning his massive frame over the blond. Link looks at the two white cocks hanging from the Zora over him and feels his own grow harder. “I have never done this before. And yet I am…”

“You’re amazing,” Link says, his voice cracking; it doesn’t sound like his own. He’s not used to saying things like that, but he wants Sidon to hear it. “You came all the way here, just to… kiss me. You surprise me all the time.”

“Oh…” Sidon’s eyes widen. His tall frame is overwhelming, and Link feels a rush come with it. After a moment of staring, the Zora grabs his knees. Claws poke into his skin. 

Sidon moves his legs apart. 

“You need something for your head,” he says, sounding a bit distracted. 

There is a giant mound of pillows not three feet from Link, but Sidon doesn’t seem to notice – definitely distracted, but not in a bad way. Link smiles. 

Reaching around their sides, the Zora sets the pillow that Link had given him earlier underneath the blond’s head, lying him flat on his back again. Then he frowns. “Are you sure you want to do this on the floor? Won’t you get cold?”

 _Not if you do a good job,_ he says with his hands.

“Link!”

Link grins. _Sorry._ His lips drop to a shy smile, and his hands move slowly. _You’re cute when you blush._

“You...” Sidon’s expression is shy but meets Link's gaze evenly. “You… Link, you are cute _all_ of the time,” he says, both hands pulled into determined fists. “And very handsome the rest of the time.”

The blond smiles, fighting the urge to hide it with a hand. 

“I have told you before, but there is something so… elegant about the precise way your long ears shape your face, and the hair you leave loose from your tie. I know all Hylians have these ears, yet when I look at you…” Link’s smile drops, replaced with stunned surprise. “Your golden hair, your blue eyes, the way you move your hands as if every task were of great importance… the steady concentration on your face.” Sidon is staring, yellow boring through his vision like two bright suns meant only for him. “You possess this fierce sort of beauty, I… Link?”

Lying on his back, head propped up on a single pillow, Link can barely breathe. 

Sidon is towering over him, naked from the top of his red crest to his feet. He is all height and muscles like some physically foreboding _mass_. His cocks are laid bare, wet from their ribbed heads to their rutted shafts, both hard and set heavily between his large, muscled thighs. The weight of his dicks, the size of the Zora towering over him, the heaviness of his words… how earnestly he says them while his cocks are only inches away from where Link wants them… 

His head spins, a rush of dizziness with pumping blood, and he covers his face with his hands, digging the heels in.

“... Link?” He hears the familiar sound of claws on hardwood, Sidon moving his feet but still on his knees, though Link can’t look, not right now. “Are you alright?” 

The blond nods behind his hands. 

“Have I said something wrong?”

He shakes his head, heat working its way up and down his throat. 

Claws slip under his palms, delicate but deliberate, and pull his hands away from his face. 

Yellow eyes widen when they see him. Link knows what he looks like – he can feel the heat like a blanket over his whole body. He tries to smile, he doesn’t want to scare Sidon, but the expression twists up and he’s not sure at all what it might look like. He tries to lie his arm over his eyes, but a large hand catches his wrist.

“You are much too red, my friend. Shall I get you something to drink? We have— I am not in a hurry, we can…”

His cocks are still there and his height and his earnestness and the fact that here, even here, Sidon is looking after him. Link would try to talk but there’s no point, not with this Zora looming over him. Instead, he pulls his wrist out of Sidon’s grasp and takes _his_ hand instead.

Link tugs, only gently, but Sidon seems to take the hint. 

The Zora slips between his legs – Link moves them apart further to let him – and leans down, pressing his head near Link’s chest. Sidon is big but he fits just fine. Link grabs at his mantle, pulling him in close. He kisses along the spots at the beginning of the tail and finally, not looking at him, he’s able to speak.

“Sidon,” he breathes against his head, just under the fin at the very top.

It takes him a few minutes to come down from that. For his nerves to dissipate. Claws at his back help. Soft words of encouragement. Link has never done well with fast surges of feeling and… it’s just… a lot. Blood had rushed to his head too quickly and that fog that cuts his brain from his mouth had taken over. Not like it normally does. Worse. 

Is it possible to be overstimulated by sight? That’s how it felt. 

It’s just that it’s _Sidon_ , and Link can’t believe he’s here. Couldn’t believe what he’d been saying, the weight of his words, kneeling over him, fully naked, both cocks out and wet and heavy and about to slip between his legs with that tongue. 

\---

After the fifth ‘Are you sure you are alright, my friend?’ and a long, petting kiss from Link, Sidon had let him go from the hug. 

Kneeling near his feet again, the Zora moves his knees apart, cheeks still faintly blue. Link could stare at him all night. Will, if he can help it; as long as this lasts, he’ll stare. 

“Are you really…”

“Sidon,” Link says, “I’m fine.” 

Biting at his bottom lip, the Zora nods. “We need something under your hips, too,” he says. The one Sidon had placed under his head earlier is still there. “Unless you want to lie on your front.” 

Link considers it, but he wants to watch. He pulls himself towards the mound of pillows Sidon had somehow missed, and then quirks one brow at the Zora, who looks stunned for a moment to have missed it.

“I suppose I was... distracted,” Sidon says at length, setting his hands on peach knees once more.

Watching worry fill yellow eyes, Link signs _I’m okay,_ and then says, “Sidon.” 

“No. I know you are.” The Zora smiles down at him. “You recover as seamlessly here as you do in combat.” The smile drops to a small frown and he says, “I simply do not want to hurt you.”

Link hasn’t ever done this before, but he’s thought about it enough to make himself dizzy and he always learns better by doing. He knows enough about it to be safe. Sidon’s tongue is thicker than two of Link’s fingers, but that just makes his head spin. 

_Go slow, I’ll be fine._

“You will tell me if it hurts?”

Link nods, his cock straining with all this waiting. 

Sidon lies down onto his white stomach, and two large hands grab Link by his hips. Claws poke into his skin. There’s a moment of nothing, of hesitation – 

And then Sidon drags Link across the blankets, pulling him towards his mouth.

The strength in the act has his half-hard cock fully hard in seconds. Sidon could probably hold him up against a wall and do this, or just hold him up in mid air, over his white mouth, and fuck Link with his tongue for _hours._ The image sends heat surging through Link’s thighs.

The first wet press of that tongue pushes against his hole. It doesn’t hurt at all, since the tip is narrow. Sidon slips it in easily. Link sighs; the feeling is feathery and light against his rim. It doesn’t take Sidon long to get comfortable with new things, and Link’s always liked that about him, but right now it feels like a blessing.

Sidon’s tongue moves in far enough to just barely stretch him, the middle of it thicker, and then he pulls it back out slowly. Link feels his cock twitch. Breathing out through his gills, Sidon slips it back in until the rim around it resists. It’s a wet heat, inching further and further. Link reaches down to touch the top of Sidon’s mantle, rubbing it, trying to tell him to keep going. The Zora seems to understand because he tightens his hold on bare hips and drags him down closer. Link feels a white mouth against his ass and he sighs again.

That long, blue tongue pushes in farther, writhing inside him, Sidon’s gills and mouth panting. 

Something sturdy bumps against his cock, the feeling unexpected. Opening his eyes, Links looks down.

It’s the crest of his head. With Sidon’s mouth pressed flat against his ass, the pointed edge of the crest has nowhere else to go. Everytime Sidon angles his head slightly forward, it rubs up against his cock, pushing the length of it towards Link’s stomach. 

It feels good. It’s not the same as his hand – not a constant pressure – but… Link’s always liked his mantle, the proud way the crest juts out like an arrow’s tip. Staring at Sidon’s large head completely filling the space between his thighs, watching the mantle bump against his cock again, feeling the headfins rub against the inside of his thighs, watching him _move_ —

Harsh, unforgiving heat unfolds through Link’s body. It sinks down low to where that tongue is. Eyes wide, he moans with an open mouth, unable to look away. 

But then he feels Sidon’s lips drag against his ass, feels his tongue sink in deeper, and Link’s head falls back against the pillow with a sigh. This is a different feeling than fucking into his hand. This is more relaxing, more dizzy, more of a frantic longing. Link’s not sure it’s working – he doesn’t think he’s getting stretched enough for the size of his cocks – but he’s not about to ask him to stop.

Sidon brings him in closer still, but slips his tongue the full way out, the slithering longess of the pull making Link’s head roll back into the pillows behind him. Before he can ask why, or if something was wrong, that tongue drags from his hole and across his perineum, stopping at his cock. 

A surprised, gasping moan works its way out of Link’s lips. Sidon’s mouth is so big he can fit him inside from his cock to the start of his hole. Teeth are kept carefully at bay, only the occasional press of them and only where it doesn’t hurt. Link is engulfed in that warm heat, in the constant friction of his mouth. That tongue rolls in waves around his dick, presses into it, slips slowly back down to his ass and then, pushing harder, finds the base of his cock again. Sidon moves it from one place to the other, dragging it up and down his skin in a steady rhythm. Link pants heavily, his back arching away from the blankets under him.

Sidon drags his mouth back down to his ass, Link’s cock rubbing wetly along the inside of it. The Zora moves back to keep his teeth clear, and then Link’s cock drags across the inside of his top lip until it bounces free of his mouth altogether.

The blond feels like he’s curling in on himself in pleasure. He tries to take a breath, tries to open his eyes and find himself in the haze of his own arousal, but he doesn’t get the chance.

That long tongue pushes the whole way in suddenly, clawed hands grabbing bare hips and keeping him in place. Link gasps, his hole fluttering against a warm, wet tongue. The crest of Sidon’s head bumps against his cock again. An airy moan falls out of his mouth; the Zora’s lips are right up against his ass, and the tip of his tongue hits somewhere deep inside him that makes the room explode into white light. 

Link’s back arches again but higher, hips pushing down to get more of his tongue.

“Si– Si–” He pants. What was that? “Again,” he breathes, staring wide-eyed and mindless at the ceiling.

Obediently Sidon’s tongue pushes against that spot deep inside him. Link feels his nipples harden and his hips lift off of the blankets like Sidon’s tongue had pulled them up, lights flashing behind his eyes. Unthinking he reaches a hand down to stroke the skin between his anus and his cock, not asking himself why, just answering what his body is demanding.

Sidon pushes his hand away and sets his own there. The large pad of one finger presses into the stretch of skin, the pressure tugging at that spot inside Link while his long, wet tongue pushes into it again. 

The blond chokes out a moan – he nearly comes, gasping and arching his hips enough to grind his head back into the pillow.

“ _Sidon—_ ” 

Sidon does it again, writhing his tongue inside his hole and rubbing at his perineum. Hot breath dances all across his skin. Link’s eyes blare wide and his back arches again, his body responding in one full convulsion. “Sidon,” he manages between desperate breathes, his eyes slamming shut while that tongue slicks through him, “Ah– Thi– _ah_ – I’m going t–” 

Suddenly, Sidon slips the full way out of him, wet and sleek and hot. Link grips the blankets with tight fists. His whole body shivers with shockwaves of friction, heat unfurling up behind his temples.

“Do you want to?” Sidon asks while Link tries not to fall apart on the floor. “I do not mind. This is… The _sounds_ you make, Link. I doubt I will ever be able to rid them from my heart.”

He runs a hand through his hair, signing with his free hand, his chest rising and falling with long breaths. _You haven’t gone yet._ That was the whole point of this, to get Link ready for him.

Sidon grins, rubbing at that stretch of skin between his cock and anus again, teeth showing as Link shivers. “The longer I wait, the better it will feel.” 

_Really?_

He nods. “Zora are meant for prolonged foreplay. I hope you manage to keep up?”

Despite his state, Link huffs at him. 

After a smirk of his own, Sidon’s tongue slips back inside, and this time he doesn't need to go slow. It surges straight to that spot and mounds against it. Link’s back arches again, hips lifting completely off the floor, and he stays up there while Sidon moves the tip of his tongue back and forth, playing with that spot. Link knew this could feel good, but he didn’t know it could feel _this_ good. Sidon pushes two fingers against his perineum, and guides his hips back down to the floor.

Link sighs, given a second to breathe, before that tongue starts again. Gripping at Link’s hips, claws poking into muscle and peach skin, Sidon shoves his long tongue as far inside as he can, pressing hard against that spot. Link feels teeth close to his ass. Just a gentle press but enough to make him moan as Sidon moves deep inside him. His vision whites out, stays that way, and the Zora pushes in further, flicking that tongue back and forth until all Link can feel is that one single spot of wet heat.

“Sido– _Ah–_ ” A finger drags up to his cock, pressing along its whole length until it’s pushing up the line of his frenulum. Between the tongue, the fingers pushing into his skin, the one sliding up his dick along with his mantle, it’s too much. 

Link’s whole body convulses as he comes. He nearly shouts, but the sound turns into a choked sob. Semen spills out all over his thighs and he gasps desperately for air as his hips surge down towards a warm mouth.

His orgasm lasts longer than it ever has on his own.

The tongue slips out, and Link whines softly, unable to help it.

Sidon moves up the blankets to lie down next to him. “Was that alright?” he asks, looking worried.

Link nods, blinking a few times, some lingering haze of pleasure riding through his hips. Then rolls his head sideways to look at the Zora. Pulling his hands up, he holds them where Sidon can see. 

_I don’t know what that was, but… I’ve never felt like that before._

“There is a gland, I believe. Hylians have it.”

Link raises his eyebrows. _How do you know that?_

“Ah.” Sidon looks sheepish, but a little proud, too. “I found a book in the bazaar outside of Gerudo Town. They have… a variety of literaure on how to have sex with every species in Hyrule.”

Link tries to picture Sidon flipping through a book like that, his cheeks getting progressively more blue, and finds himself smiling.

A claw comes up to move hair out of his eyes. They’re lying next to each other, Link on his back with his head turned towards the Zora, and Sidon propped up on one elbow. 

“I was embarrassed at the time, but I am glad to have read it now.”

Link grins. He takes one of Sidon’s red hands and kisses his claws. Then he says against them, “Your turn.”

“Do you not need a bit more rest? And we should perhaps clean you up, as well.”

Link shakes his head, hands still holding a larger one. 

“I know you recover quickly,” Sidon says, “But… this is all _new_ , Link. To both of us.”

Shaking his head again Link moves to stand up, just to prove his point.

His legs buckle under him before he even gets to his knees.

Sidon catches him as he falls over, giving him a leveled stare.

 _Okay_ , Link signs, _Rest._

_  
\---_

  
Dragging his hands down Sidon’s thighs, Link grins over at him, sitting between his legs again. Sidon is lying back, his head resting on the mountain of pillows Link had set up for him when they’d started. 

_Ready?_ Link signs.

Sidon’s mouth opens and then it closes. 

Link rubs at the outside of his thighs, tracing the lines that separate red skin from white, ones that disappear under the fins at his hips. He looks across his long torso, all the way up to his nervous mouth, his jagged teeth, his pretty eyes. 

“Sidon?” 

“I…” The Zora’s teeth poke into his bottom lip, his brow furrowing. “You are certain this will not hurt you?”

Running his hands along red thighs again, Link smiles over at Sidon, still looking across the full expanse of his white body. After two orgasms and nearly three hours of foreplay in between – after that tongue – he knows it won't hurt at all. Every single muscle in Link’s body feels loose.

“It won’t,” he says, not wanting to take his hands off the warm thighs under him. 

White cheeks flushing, Sidon nods, his words a little unhinged. “I am ready then, as long as you are.”

Careful of the white cocks, Link climbs up across the length of his torso just to fall down and kiss him. He holds Sidon’s head under both of the fins that outline his face. Sighing through the kiss, Link lets his tongue run carefully along sharp teeth.

Sidon’s expression is struck with awe as he pulls away. Smirking at him, the blond makes to slide back down, but a large hand catches the side of his face.

“Link.”

He only stares, some sort of urgent heat in his heart he’s never felt, different from all other heat in this moment.

Sidon pulls his face down, setting Link’s head against his crest and closing his eyes. 

The Zora is silent, which is strange for him; but the blond only stares down at his peaceful expression. The soft sound of air through gills, gentle nighttime wind outside the window, and insects murmuring just underneath that. It lasts only a minute or so. But Link wonders if it’s some Zora thing he doesn’t know about, being held against the crest of his head like this.

“There is…” Sidon says, his clear voice breaking apart the silence. By now Link’s face is red and his cock is so hard he can barely think, but the haze is heavy and pleasant, and he tries to focus on the words being said. “There is one more thing I must tell you. I do not think it would be polite to… to surprise you.”

The blond nods, his fringe rubbing against the smooth mantle.

“Zora, we…” Claws scratch up his back, following the curve of his spine, and Link breathes out a slow sigh. “The length of our climax is longer than that of a Hylian’s,” Sidon says, not looking at Link, the words sticking together with embarrassment. “Yours are seconds, but…”

Heart racing, looking down at Sidon, still pressed against his mantle, Link asks, “How long?” 

A few sharp teeth poke into a bottom lip, and Sidon opens his wide mouth and closes it again, and Link thinks he’s about to lose his mind staring at that mouth because _all_ of that had been on him, inside him, and his whole naked body is lying across Sidon’s wide white chest now. His cock is pressed down near his upper stomach. Suddenly the memory of Sidon basking on hot rocks in the sun flashes in his mind; red cliffs and swaying palm trees and the never ending warm wind. Next time, whenever they can, Link wants to do this there instead. Right on those rocks.

“Sidon,” he says when he realizes the Zora had never answered. Link drags fingers up under one headfin. “How long?”

“That will depend on… It is different depending on…” The Zora groans, shifting his hips; the act lifts Link’s whole body up with him, making his heart race. “A few minutes is... typical,” he says at last, his expression folded over with shyness.

\---

Sidon opens his eyes just in time to see the Hylian’s own blue ones flare with that bright heat he knows all too well. 

Link nods, avid determination at his jawline. The hand under Sidon’s headfin slips out. He’s given a sweet kiss, the softest one yet, and then those pink lips drag down to his throat.

Large mantles make this sort of action difficult for most Zora, but the Hylian under his chin has no trouble. Link kisses up the centre of his neck, fingers reaching up to unclasp the decorative armour there. The definite snap of the hinge opening and the gentle clack of it being set on the floor beside him makes Sidon’s cocks twitch; somehow Link undressing him is heavy in a way he doesn’t understand, not right now, not while under him like this. 

Dull teeth followed by warm lips glide under his left headfin, and then all the way back to the bottom base of his headtail. Link’s bare chest, firm and with the barely-there press of his hard nipples, lies flat against Sidon’s white one. The sensation of both his mouth and his whole body fills Sidon’s lungs with air, as if some cloud had taken him up and carried him far away. 

Those pink lips drive up as far as they can reach under his fin, kissing slowly at the space where it connects to his head, a space Sidon does not think anyone has ever been before. The Hylian keeps kissing him there, mouthing over and over again. The friction is relentless. Eventually that small flat tongue slips out, adding wetness to the continuous pressure.

Sidon is panting in seconds, small shattering gasps he has never known himself to make.

\---

Link lifts himself up once Sidon starts panting. Smiling – trying to, but maybe it comes out a little provoked, half-lidded – he slips back down his long body. 

He moves carefully past his cocks again – doesn’t want to touch them yet – and sets himself between red-and-white knees.

Staring across that white torso, Link rubs at the outside of Sidon’s thighs. The Zora is flat on his back, eyes closed and breaths heavy. Just like he had at the fire weeks ago, Link thinks about how no one’s ever seen him like this before. Lying out across blankets, propped up on a mound of pillows, his hard cocks out and his mouth wide with wanting gasps.

Smiling, Link pulls himself forward towards Sidon’s cocks. He breathes a hot breath over one, just staring for a moment. It’s big, the head is wide, but Link knows he can take it; his own dick throbs at the thought.

Claws move hair out of his face, and when Link flicks his gaze up yellow eyes are staring at him down a white torso. Meeting them for a moment, smirk small and happy, Link drops his mouth down. 

Sidon moans instantly, and Link hears the definite sound of his head falling back onto the pillows.

Smiling again through the action, he skirts kisses along the full length of one of Sidon’s cocks, barely touching him at all. Then Link sets his mouth on that knoll of skin between the two of them. Sidon sucks in a sharp breath through his gills – it must be a little sensitive, at least, whatever its purpose.

Licking up the side of one cock, Link places his lips around the head, avoiding the tip. Sidon’s cocks are sort of looming, slick with that natural lubricant, and he has to lift his whole chest up to reach. Barely touching still, he slips his mouth down the side of one again, feeling faintly each curve and grove against his lips. Sidon starts to breathe thickly, but Link knows he can sound more helpless than that. 

He slides his lips off his left cock, and then presses them against the right one, slipping this into his mouth. The warm weight makes his heart flutter. Link lies his tongue against the length and he drags his lips up, pulling friction with his mouth and tongue at the same time. 

Once he slips off the tip, he goes back to the other cock, kissing the head once and lingering there firmly as Sidon lets out a moan. 

He’s not sure if he can do it, but Link grabs the bases of both and carefully holds them together. He presses his mouth against each head, pushing in firmly. Sidon’s hips shudder. Holding onto their bases, Link drags the tips of both white cocks around his mouth in a gradual circle, rubbing his lips against them. 

“Oh-” comes a breathless sound, surprised. Link looks up along a white body and sees yellow eyes watching him again, watching the way his two cocks push around at his lips.

They're hot in his hands. Sidon's hips rise up, searching for warmth, gaze unwavering. Link’s eyes focus in and he opens his lips wide, slipping his mouth down around both.

“ _Link_.”

Sidon makes a choked moan, one that ends in a low growl. His head falls against the pillows again.

It’s a precarious fit, but the feeling of both heavy in his mouth makes Link’s head haze over. A slow groan rakes out of the Zora, sounding like it builds from his lower stomach and unfurls through his chest, and Link closes his eyes. He licks his tongue between the two cocks in his mouth, letting his lips drag as far down as he can manage, taking as much as he can fit. 

They fill his mouth completely, poking at the insides of his cheeks.

After a ragged, long pant, Sidon’s claws are in his hair, and the Zora tries to speak. “You are truly–”

Link flicks his tongue between the cocks in his mouth again, pulling up to roll his lips over their heads. Sidon shatters into a keening moan, this one high and desperate. The blond’s heart thuds hard in his ears. Mindless he slips his mouth further over the cocks, his eyes closed and head empty.

Sidon breathes his name in some scattered, helpless tone Link’s never heard before.

Link drags his mouth up both dicks and off of them, then kisses down the front of both at once. The ribbed sides glide over his lips. He flattens his tongue along the front, and Sidon makes a desperate sound that rolls over Link like a wave of warm water. He slides his tongue under the ribbed edges of the heads, pressing it in flat, memorizing the pattern with his eyes shut, each ridge indenting his lips as he drags the cocks around his mouth. 

After kissing down the base of both cocks one last time, he lets them go.

He looks across a white torso at Sidon, and yellow eyes are watching him, half closed with frenzied heat.

Keeping their gazes held, Link lifts himself up over Sidon’s left cock. He grabs the base of it, holding it steady. Guiding it, still watching yellow eyes, watching those slits of black blow wide, Link lines the head up under him. He hears air through gills, the frantic sound matching Sidon’s expression.

It’s big – he won't be able to fit both, not without a lot of practice and maybe some sort of elixir – but he can still make Sidon lose his mind with one. He’s going to. After what Sidon did to him, Link is determined to make him fall apart.

Link shifts his hips down carefully, holding the single cock tight at its base; the ribbed head presses against his rim. It’s wet, and so is Link from that long tongue. Slowly, taking a breath, he drops down further, pushing it inside.

“ _Link_ ,” Sidon breathes out his name followed by a low whine. Link takes in as much of his cock as he can, barely more than the tip. He squeezes his ass tight and pulls up, trying to get used to the feeling. Sidon, his head rolling back along the mountain of pillows, digs his claws into the blankets. 

_Okay?_ he asks with his hands.

Staring up at him with a lude expression Link can barely believe he’s seeing, the Zora nods, his sharp teeth showing as his lips hang open.

Link slips his cock back inside him, further this time, flexing his muscles around it again and taking deep, focused breaths. 

It’s tight, and he can’t say it feels good, but one of those low moans slips out of a white mouth, cut by jagged teeth.

“Oh… You feel so…” 

The blond grins. He reaches out with one hand, rubbing Sidon’s other cock, playing with the ridges under the head. He tightens his ass again, dragging a thumb along the grooves down the side of the dick in his hand. Sidon whines, and Link can tell he’s fighting to keep his hips still.

He takes another deep breath, letting it out as he slips more of the Zora inside him. The ribbed head and rolling grooves slide against his walls, filling him completely. 

\---

All Sidon feels is heat. Link’s naked body fills his eyes, the rolling muscles of his torso and his heaving chest, the scattering scars, the careful effort he puts into bringing Sidon inside him. The contrast is confounding. One cock is buried in heat, and the other is out in the open, careful fingers playing with its sides. He’s nearly faint with want. Both of his cocks ache, fully coated in natural lubrication, but he won't move, not until Link is ready. 

It takes a few more agonizing moments of Link pushing him in deeper, tightening himself, breathing carefully, and then pulling him out. Each time he’s brought in further. Each time Link seems to enjoy it more, tightness replaced by tugging friction.

When Sidon is brought fully inside the Hylian, Link grins down at him, proud and handsome and breathless.

“You are–” Sidon growls, his senses overcome, hoping Link does not mind the lurid sound. “I cannot believe…” 

Still grinning, Link holds up his hands to speak. _All the way in._

Sidon feels deeply warm under blue eyes, and does his best not to move his hips an inch although his body is weak with desire.

Dropping his hands to hold Sidon’s torso for purchase, the blond begins to move. He barely shifts his hips a fraction; but the walls of his warmth slide against every inch of Sidon’s cock, an absolute pressure that seems to reach all the way up his throat. The back of his headtail hits the pillows behind him hard enough to thud, but Sidon barely feels it.

“Careful,” Link says, hands petting across a white torso.

Sidon, incoherent, shudders as the blond moves again, lifting himself up and down, trying to get used to the sensation. The Zora’s cocks are hard enough that it feels as if all the tension has built up in their tips, and he should faint at any moment. Link has him to the very base, an impossible heat wrapped around him. 

The Hylian must see something in his face, or hear it in his voice as he moans.

“Hold on,” he says, rubbing at Sidon’s hips sweetly, “a bit more.” 

Link works himself up and down, Sidon’s other cock rubbing against his outer thigh. He goes slowly, still trying to adapt to the size. That warm heat drags against Sidon’s cock, a peach rear hitting his pelvis upon each downward thrust. Small noises slip out between pink lips; noises of concentration, focused on the purpose of his task, noises of faint longing.

Unable to help it, Sidon grabs at Link’s waist, his claws digging in the way he knows the Hylian likes it.

He’s gifted with a long groan, and Link pushes down over his cock again, breaths falling easier now.

\---

“Okay,” Link pants, stopping his hips; his muscles are loose enough now. When the Zora only stares up at him, he grips at the hands on his waist to get his attention. “Sidon.” 

One red hand slips out from under peach ones. 

Blue claws skirt across his mouth. Link breathes in sharply, jerking a little in surprise. One large finger pushes in, flatting against the bottom lip, and Sidon sighs sounding helpless. 

“Is it strange to say I love your mouth?”

Yellow eyes are clouded over, pupils wide; he’s looking up at Link through some fog of vivid pleasure. Sidon feels everything fully, Link knows that by now. Emotions run through him without any need for contemplation. It’s just who he is.

Seeing it like _this_ is different, and Link feels his hips shudder with that weighted cock inside him.

Arms feeling weak, he reaches up to hold onto Sidon’s wrist with both hands. He kisses opaque claws with an exhale of air through his nose. 

“You are so gentle with me,” Sidon says. 

Link closes his eyes. _Of course_ , he thinks, no way to say it. 

“Are you certain you’re ready?”

He nods, and after one last kiss, moves the clawed hand back to his waist. 

Smirking smally, watching Sidon’s expression, Link rolls his hips forward. There’s no more pain; all he feels are the ribbed sides rubbing against him, the head of the Zora’s cock pushing in further. 

A low, feral growl slips through a white mouth. Link stares at his teeth, sharp and bared wide open as he moans. Clawed hands grip tight at Link’s waist. Sidon holds him down, holds him still. Smirk growing wider, Link rolls his hips again, going from back to front and tugging at Sidon’s dick with his hole.

The Zora’s hips rise up, his cock pressed further inside Link; claws dig into his skin, and Sidon’s gills let out a breath. 

Suddenly, Link is lifted up by the hands on his waist. 

Sidon pulls him up his dick, rolling his hips, and then pulls him back down even further. Link’s ass is pressed flat into a white pelvis, and he feels the ribbed head of his cock hit the same spot his tongue had.

The fact that he’s basically being dragged up and down his cock has Link’s heart racing. He feels those hands at his ribs, claws digging in, the wide expanse of muscles under his rear and thighs; he feels gills against his naked legs; he feels all the space inside him filled with a ribbed cock, sliding up against the walls of his ass, dragging and tugging as he’s forced up and down Sidon’s dick.

The Zora is watching him, watching the place where he keeps slipping in and out of Link. His mouth is wide open, moaning through jagged teeth; his expression is clouded as his eyes fight to stay open. 

Link rubs at his other cock even as he’s pulled up and down, running a thumb around the ribbed outline of its head. A low moan slips between white lips and sharp teeth and Sidon brings Link’s hips down, hands tightening on his torso, lifting his own hips off the blankets to meet him in a rush.

His dick hits that spot again, and Link only sees white as his mouth drops open into a choking moan.

\---

Sidon loses himself in heat. His headtail hits the pillows again, and he lifts a firm Hylian body up with his hands, cool air hitting the base of his cock until he forces him back down over it. Link chokes out a moan, one that fills Sidon’s head completely; his arms come out to press at Sidon’s lower torso, holding himself up steady. 

Sidon lifts him again, keeping his own hips on the ground. He holds the blond over head of his dick, perfectly still. He waits a moment, just long enough for Link to open his eyes and look confused.

Then, baring his teeth, Sidon pulls Link down onto his cock. Blue eyes flutter closed in unexpected feeling, and his pink lips drop open, a frantic sudden moan falling out.

Sidon keeps Link held down, keeps himself deep inside.

“ _Sidon_.”

“Yes, my lovely hero?” he says, jagged teeth gleaming. He lets his blue tongue poke out, only just.

Link glowers at him, but playfully. Sidon grins back. He had not known sex could be like this. Full of laughter, of pleasant embarrassment, of fun.

Calloused Hylian hands remove the claws on his waist. Link leans forwards, slipping off of him about half-way, reaching over. Sidon lifts himself off of the pillows, leaning his head up slightly to meet him and closing his eyes.

Strong fingers rub along the red arrow of his mantle for a long moment. Sidon sighs, the sensation relaxing amidst all their shared heat.

After a soft scratch along his crest, Link moves away. 

Returning to his seat over Sidon’s thighs, the blond rolls back down over him slightly off-kilter. The changed angle and the sudden sensation snaps Sidon’s eyes open. It sends his head to the pillows once more. 

The blond does this again, tightening his ass and pulling himself up, then rolling his hips back down. Sidon tries to grab at his sides again, but Link pushes his hands away with a smirk.

Steadying himself with hands on Sidon’s pelvis, knees barely touching the ground where they straddle him, Link rolls his hips forward and back. This motion, a slow gyration, moves Sidon’s cock inside him, rubbing the full length of it against his walls. He sucks back air through his gills, his claws brushing against Link’s thighs; his dick is dragged back and forth, pressed into warm heat; Link rolls his hips in a circle, soft pants escaping; Sidon shifts his hips up to move inside him further, searching for that warmth unconsciously. 

The blond gasps and blues eyes open, catching yellow. Link looks down at him, lips falling open, eyes full of lowly burning heat. Rolling his hips again, Link keeps their gazes held. Rough fingers grip at Sidon’s lower stomach, twitching slightly while the blond moves back and forth on his cock, digging his knees into the sides of the Zora's hips to steady himself. 

The tugging and pressing of the full lenght of his cock, the sight of Link rolling his hips over him, shameless and panting… Sidon wonders if he will faint. He watches a calloused Hylian hand drop down to his other dick. A palm presses his free cock against a peach hip, rubbing it up and down while Link continues pulling his other one around with the unending heat of his body.

Sidon’s head rolls back on the pillows, a keening deep moan wracked through him. His head falls to the side and he thrusts up into Link involuntarily. His mind spins without thought, large chest heaving where he lies on the floor.

Link lifts himself off of him, slowly, the dragging feeling on his cock immense and absolute. The blond slides back down, taking him completely. His rear sits firmly on Sidon’s pelvis once more, warm and weighted as it always had been. Link rolls his hips forward and back, pulling his cock around with his hole again, and then swipes his thumb across the tip of the other.

Sidon can’t think, can’t possibly hope to breathe any way but helplessly, not hope to do anything other than lie here and fall to pieces. The solid weight over his pelvis, familiar and strong; the thighs pressed down his sides, the small hairs that line them bringing his racing heart back to their days on the river; the hands pressed frantically into his stomach; the sweet sounds Link makes on top of him, turning from soft, periodic moans to gasped panting as he rolls his hips in divots around Sidon’s cock. It is all too much, the way he moves, those overwrought sounds from that usually restrained voice, the simple _fact_ of him, of what he is doing, tugging Sidon’s cock inside of him in those slow circles. 

Grabbing at his waist again, he feels sturdy muscles and rough scars underneath his hands. Link rolls his hips and Sidon, a ragged groan tearing out of him, frantically ruts up into him. Link’s overwrought gasps fill his senses; oh how could his heart ever hope to not recall them weeks from now late at night alone in the dark of his bedroom? 

Sidon looks up at the Hylian on top of him, only means to for a moment but becomes stuck. Long hair like sun falls wild down near his shoulders, some having escaped the loose tie he leaves it in. His flared eyes are open, staring down at the place they’re connected, wonder and awe and heat swirling through his irises. Sidon looks at his muscled arms, hands holding his own where they are wrapped around his waist; the line of his jaw, slack with constant noise, teeth barely showing; his pointed ears poking from beneath the lovely canopy of his wild hair, the strands lying over the front of those ears, the ruby earing, the sharp slope of his nose, the memory of midnights and early mornings and day after day of waking up to his bright smile, his avid way of fixating on the task at hand, all of his accidental charms.

Most of all Sidon watches the way Link moves. The rise and fall of his muscular chest, the bend in his forearms, his fingers twitching in tandem with his airy moans, the maddening circles of his hips as Link drags Sidon’s cock around inside him – all of it a gesture that speaks a thousand words, and all of it given to Sidon in this moment, unwavering attention he is the very center of.

\---

Focused on their connected hips, at the stark contrast between peach-pink and marble-white, Link doesn't notice movement until fingers are on his ear. 

He looks over.

Sidon is staring at him from the floor. 

Claws and padded fingers skirt down from the tip of Link’s ear to his temple. The Zora, flat on his back, is smiling; his wide chest is heaving, still in the midst of all their shared heat. With tinted blue cheeks, bared sharp teeth, unwavering eyes and broken breathing – Sidon's expression is sweet.

Link stops moving, stops with that fullness deep inside him, stops because he knows the Zora wants to say something.

\---

Sidon moves a finger back down his lovely ear, rolling around the outer shell. “You are _always_ beautiful,” he hears himself say, his voice so much lower and debased than he has ever heard it. “As I have told you perhaps to the point of becoming repetitive, but my… my dear…” Sidon trails off, his words gone; he moves a claw across Link’s temple to his fringe, moving blond strands away from blue eyes; then touches down along his shoulder, rounding the muscles of his upper arm. “Yet you are the _most_ beautiful when you move, when actions overtake your being.” Sidon stares at his firm chest, the rolling muscles of his torso as he holds himself up, holds himself solid over one of Sidon’s cocks, unmoving and deeply warm. “I have never watched someone as I watch you.”

“Si…”

What is it to be with someone like this? he wonders. Connected like this. Sidon has never known it. Link is so physical, and it’s reasonable to assume this connection, this action, means a great deal to him. Tracing lines his eyes had made a hundred times at least, the Zora feels the firmness of his scarred chest under the pad of his larger finger. He slides his hand down to the fullness of where Link is sat on top of him; Sidon cups a hand around his rear, firm and soft all at once. “You say so _much_ with your body.” 

Sidon lifts his hips, higher than he had thus far. Link’s knees lift up off the blankets in a gradual, slow arc. Sidon feels himself buried deeper and watches heady pleasure run through blue eyes. He sets his hips back down on the blanket, Link gripping onto his white torso although all his fingers can do is drag uselessly across it, stuttering from feeling. 

“Pardon me for my sentimentality, you are simply…” he trails off, merely staring again, lost in blue and peach and blond, lost in all of his scars and the listless memories from the past four weeks spent together in the wilds of Hyrule.

\---

Unable to speak – overwhelmed and made senseless by words and the way Sidon had lifted him off the floor – Link takes the hand from his chest. 

He drags Sidon’s fingers up his own body, letting the pads of them rub across one of his hard nipples. Yellow eyes follow the line he draws. The blond shivers, words echoing inside his head like a fog, blotting out any coherent thought he had left in him.

Link stops the fingers at his lips, holding Sidon’s hand by his thumb and wrist. He kisses them once. There’s no way he can talk. Link can barely think, his heart thudding hard enough to rattle his skull. So instead he just moves, his body taking over where his mouth can’t.

Rolling his hips, the blond moans into long red fingers.

“Ah– _Link_ —”

He keeps moving, one large hand on his back and the other’s fingers pressed against his lips. He kisses them again, holding on with a sad sort of desperation he’s never felt before.

Longing, he thinks.

Link closes his eyes. For a moment he lets himself just feel, rocking his hips and kissing sharp claws, the broken one obvious as he drags them across his mouth. He’d meant to slip off Sidon’s cock and onto his other one, had planned it as soon as both had slipped out from that slit; but he can’t imagine lifting himself away from the heat between his legs, not even for a second.

A feral growl fills his ears and Link opens his eyes. The fingers at his lips leave and then Sidon grabs at his waist, the action commanding and careful all at once. 

Link rolls his hips again, Sidon’s claws pressing gently into his torso, his hips shaking as he moves. The Zora lifts himself up off the blankets, once again lifting Link with his body. Being held up by the large cock inside him and the strong hands on his waist – Link chokes out a moan, and it shatters apart as he’s brought back down.

After this, Sidon starts moving, pushing up into him in frantic thrusts that make Link start to bounce. 

The Zora has him pinned down with nothing but his hands. His white lips are wide open. A string of frantic whines slip past sharp teeth, threaded through with unhinged growls. Link grabs the fingers at his torso, stroking a thumb down the length of one while he’s pushed up into with strong thrusts. 

He breathes out Sidon’s name, only once, the sound falling frantically to a moan as he’s fucked wonderfully.

The silver filaments of his gills flutter. Sidon’s cock pushed up into him, hands holding Link in place, the slow force of his ribbed dick filling him, sometimes hitting that same place his tongue had.

All Link can see are serrated teeth bared to the dark room, all he feels are claws grabbing at his waist, and the ribbed lining of Sidon’s cock rubbing against the inside of his ass. When the Zora’s hips rise to meet him again, Link rolls his own, working his muscles against the hands on his waist. He lets Sidon fuck up into him from a different angle and grabs at the hands on his torso, his eyes falling closed in the hurried friction that drags inside him.

Link comes with a spilling moan, his third orgasm surging up suddenly. He breathes heavily through it. When he opens his eyes, Sidon is smiling at him. One clawed finger comes up to pet hair away from his face.

Still Sidon’s cock slips in and out of him, and the sensation of being fucked even after he’s come makes Link’s hips go weak.

Sidon’s breathing, from his gaping sharp mouth and his fluttering gills, becomes hurried and patternless. 

Link digs the heels of his own hands into Sidon’s stomach, steading himself. Frantic gasps fall from the Zora in waves as he pushes his cock up into him. Link feels his ass hitting against a white pelvis as his movements speed up and lose any control; he hears gills sucking back listless air, and then Sidon’s own voice choking on a loud moan, one the blond is vaguely aware can probably be heard by half the village.

Sidon comes with a low growling moan, his gills practically trilling, and his teeth bared wide.

Link is held down tight for a shuddering moment, Sidon lifting to push his cock all the way in as he comes. The sound he makes is shattered and desperate. Warm fluid fills Link in a long surge, spilling out from the cock next to him too. It coats across his and Sidon’s thighs. White in colour, it has a pearly shimmer to it, which has Link smiling, finding it somehow sweet while the Zora comes undone under him. 

Link watches his closed eyes, the pleasure clear in every line on his white face. Sidon is still riding it.

“ _Link…_ ” Claws graze across his waist, and the blond shivers. “Where… We… How did you… your _hips_ , I am…” 

With a low growl, Sidon cuts himself off. He's still coming, just like he’d said he would, and Link stares. Visible shudders shake through him, his pupils wide and teeth bared. 

The cocks inside and next to him aren't very hard anymore, but a lazy trickle of glimmering white continues to spill from them, slowly soaking the blankets beneath them.

Link slips off, a wet sucking sound he’s never going to be able to forget following the act. He crawls up onto Sidon’s chest, uncaring of the mess they'd made and sets his forehead down against the crest of his mantle, hands on his clavicle. Sidon is looking up at him but his eyes are unfocused and he's keening in rapid succession; obviously only half aware of anything around him.

“Sidon,” Link says, just to say his name. Slowly, he wraps his arms under his wide shoulders, and rolls them onto their sides. Link cradles his angular head carefully onto the floor. It isn’t easy to move him; most of his weight is lost to his prolonged climax.

Lying side by side, Link rubs at his mantle, skirting along the spots and the long arrow of his head, watching. 

Sidon’s hips writhe back and forth; his shorter legs slide across the blankets and claws tear through handfuls of the same fabric. Link brings one of those large hands towards himself, setting it on his back. Claws dig in, a little harder than normal, and Link holds the side of a white jaw.

The blond kisses him softly while the continuous orgasm rakes through the Zora. He wants to say a million things. As always, especially now, they twist up inside his head and fold into nothing. “Sidon,” he says, pulling back from the kiss, his voice raw as Sidon falls apart on the floor next to him, still coming, mouth open to beautiful white jagged teeth and high, quick, desperate moans. Link wants to tell him that he's the same as Hyrule’s wilds, that he's the only person he wants to return to. “Sidon,” he says again, no other words coming. The Zora looks at him, the sheen of his pleasure still fogging his eyes; but they’re staring back at him now, more aware. 

He wants to tell Sidon that he can't stop looking at him either, that he looks the best basked in sunlight and soaked in saltwater. He wants to tell him _he’s_ the beautiful one because Link’s never needed someone to take care of him, to protect him, never even wanted it, but Sidon does it in a way that feels like home.

Those slitted pupils finally dilate and Sidon growls out quieter moans, his eyes refocusing, coming down slow as the flow of his ejaculation finally comes to a stop. Link looks back and forth between yellow orbs and serrated teeth and that barely-seen blue tongue and remembers the massage and the octorok attack, remembers holding him tight in river water; the day they’d spent in the Faron Sea, how Sidon had gotten close and Link had to hide himself low in the ocean and how Sidon must have carried him out because he woke up on the beach; when he’d shown him how to shoot an arrow and Sidon’s voice went quiet; when they’d fought the stalnox and Sidon had caught him instead of the hard ground and Link had wanted to kiss him so badly his heart felt like a stone sunk into the deepest sand pit the desert had to offer; the way Sidon had been glad to see him when Link first arrived in the Domain, that single night all those weeks ago, the very first time water through gills had lulled him to sleep, how it had nearly every night after.

“I love you,” Link blurts out, the words falling from his mouth like he’d tripped and dropped them.

Blue eyes blare wide. 

Breathing heavy through his mouth and his gills, Sidon reflects the expression, searching Link’s face all over in sudden surprise.

Link’s mouth opens and closes in its absolute betrayal. He wants to sink into the floor, be swallowed by the ground under him until he disappears. 

But Sidon breathes out a frantically happy laugh, his dizzy eyes barely past his orgasm. The hand on Link’s spine is met by another one, and Sidon brings him in, rolling onto his back and pulling the blond on top of him.

“Oh _Link_.”

Gills blow air all over his naked legs and sides, and Sidon is still laughing, the sound as heartfelt as always but ragged from sex.

He’s squeezed tight, and teeth are near one of his ears, warm breath blowing all across it.

“Sorry,” Link says, his head ringing with hard heartbeats, shocked at his own admission. “Sorry, I didn’t- I don’t know where...”

“Do _not_ apologize,” Sidon says, tips of sharp teeth skirting along his ear. He shifts them so he can look up at the blond, hands still flat on his back. “Link, my dear friend, my– my _brave_ hero, my fierce partner in battle, my most treasured gem in all of Hyrule, pearl of the ocean of my heart–” Link snorts softly, a smile pulling at his face without any intention on his part. Sidon grins back up at him, claws swiping hair across his forehead and staring straight into his eyes. “I love you too. I would be helpless to do anything but.”

Closing his eyes, Link leans down and kisses him. He drags his hand flat across the chest under him, stuttering a breath against warm white lips, his muscles ready to collapse after all of that.

He slips sideways down the Zora, onto the blankets on his side again, and pulls Sidon over to face him. 

Shaking from his thighs to his fingers, Link takes a red hand and brings it up to his mouth. He kisses every single claw, lingering the longest on the broken one, and closes his eyes when strong arms pull him into a wide white chest.

* * *

  
Breath shallow, feeling boneless, Link lies curled against a white chest, tucked into the side of one headfin. All he can smell is rainwater and ozone, and something darker, whatever natural scent Sidon has after sex. Claws hold him at his back, drawing lines up from his shoulders and down to his hips. Link sighs. It’s hard for him to accept that Sidon is really here, even though he’d been as close as he could get. Link pulls himself in, wrapping around Sidon’s wide chest, thighs around his gills and arms around his neck, lying only half on top of him.

Gills breathe out against his inner thighs, and when Sidon talks, it’s like the words are cut apart by his own teeth. “You are not sore, are you?” 

Link’s the one who should ask that. Sex seems to take a lot out of Zora – or maybe just Sidon. His orgasm went on for at least five minutes, heat and blurry pleasure rolling through yellow eyes. 

“Link?”

He’s a little sore – but not in a bad way. It’s the kind of pain that comes with purpose; and it hadn’t hurt at all when they’d been in the middle of things. The blond reaches around and grabs Sidon’s right shoulder. _No_. 

Gills breathe out again, a heaving sigh, silver filaments shuffling; and then Sidon holds his back and rolls over, bringing Link off the blankets and fully onto his long white torso. He lets himself be pulled around, every joint and muscle loose and weak. He doesn’t even have the strength to lift his legs. Instead they lull across Sidon’s ribs, falling down on either side of him as Link comes to rest across his chest.

Claws find his hair, then, scratching at the back of his head. Link closes his eyes and tucks his face under Sidon’s chin.

“I can hardly believe you are naked in my arms,” Sidon says, a shaky laugh coming after the words. Link pushes up under his chin, tries to flatten himself against the white body under him. “I hope… I hope we will get to do this again?”

Why is he asking? Isn’t it obvious? Link pushes himself up away from Sidon’s chest; he needs to say something. Sidon will have to go home to the Domain and he’s not letting him leave with any more misunderstandings.

He just hopes his voice will work.

It’s always easy to say his name, so Link starts with that. “Sidon.” Black slitted pupils are blown wide, iris the colour of honey in the dark of his bedroom. Link reaches up to touch the crest of his mantle, and those pretty eyes close with a sigh through gills. “I… I’ll take you home. I _want_ to take you home,” he says, his voice scratching up his throat. “Tomorrow. But...” he swallows, furrowing his brow in concentration as he tries to fight against the disconnect between his brain and his tongue. “With the slate, I can come see you. When you have time.” His head starts to spin, words losing themselves before they make it to his mouth. Link frowns harder. “But, I can’t…. Sidon, I can’t stay at the palace. I–”

A finger presses up against his lips, silencing him.

“Did you expect I would ask you to?” The Zora says sadly. Link opens his mouth against his finger, more out of surprise than a desire to speak. “Would _you_ ask me to leave my people? My obligations? My home?” Yellow eyes under him search his own, their focus a bit off-kilter. “Link, if you would have me, I would delight in being your paramour. _More_ than delight in it. You have unfolded something within me, and I expect it will remain open for as long as you’ll keep me.” 

_I’ll keep you forever_ , he wants to say, even though it’s not possible.

“Yet we do _not_ need to make demands of each other. Perhaps our titles will cause some difficulty, but I do not need you to live at the palace. Please do not… I would not ever ask… I…” There are tears in his eyes and Link sucks in a sharp breath, watching them roll sideways towards the floor. “Oh… I apologize, dear friend. I have not slept in days.”

Shaking his head, fingers already wiping water away, Link falls down to kiss the white mouth under him. He wants to tell Sidon how deep his words always cut, wants to at least say _yes_ to his request, but there’s no hope of that. So he makes the kiss long. Link slips a hand under one fin, holding Sidon’s head and kissing him until those gills sigh. 

“Is this a yes?” the Zora asks against his mouth.

Link nods, still kissing him. He slips his hand up towards his headtail, and drags fingers down the length of it where it’s lying across the blankets. He feels the spots under his fingers, how they’re rougher than the rest of his skin. And then there is something he thinks he can say.

Pulling away from the kiss, Link opens his mouth. 

“What,” he starts, sitting on his elbows on a white chest, fingers still on Sidon’s headtail, “What are these?”

Sidon blinks, probably surprised by the sudden change in topic. But he wants to let Sidon sleep. The rest of it can wait. 

“The spots?”

Link nods, still staring at the line of them down Sidon’s tail.

“They’re for attracting prey, for the most part. Have you not seen them before? I’m sure I have used them on our journey.”

Link shakes his head. _How do they work?_ he wants to ask. _Can you show me?_

“Here,” Sidon says.

Link stops breathing as slowly the room is ignited in gradual pale yellows. All of the spots on Sidon’s head light up; the ones over the hard ridge of his crest, the ones across the dorsal fin on top of his head, and the ones down his head tail, Link’s fingers held away from them in surprise. Small circles of glowing lights, dozens of them, soft and radiating subtle heat.

Still wrapped around Sidon’s chest, Link starts moving, wanting a better look.

\---

Sidon laughs quietly as Link pulls himself up his body, nearly scrambling to reach the top of his head. Peach knees end up on his chest, and the tight muscles of his stomach are pressed against Sidon’s face. He feels Hylian hands grip at his dorsal fin, and then careful fingers begin poking around at all his spots. The blond is absolutely silent. All Sidon can hear is his faint breathing, and the slow drag of fingers around his crest, his fins, and his tail.

Link is wrapped around his head, his naked body pressed into Sidon’s face while he explores the bioluminescent spots. His skin is warm from sex, and he smells as he always does, like light and heat, a scenet better understood underwater. 

If he could reasonably bar Link from ever wearing clothes again, he would, but understands it’s a Hylian custom. 

Sidon sets a hand on the curve of his naked back, letting it slide down just above his rear, feeling the curve there as well. He turns his face into Link’s warm skin, fully surrounded by his strong abdomen and all of those scars, and sighs.

Smiling, Sidon lets his hand slip down lower, holding Link’s rear fully. He does not seem to mind, or he simply doesn’t notice. Sidon scratches claws along the peach skin of his hip, pressing in with his fingers around the curve of his bottom. Yet Link stays focused on his mantle, his smaller fingers prodding along the lit-up spots. If Sidon had known he would find them so transfixing, he would have shown them sooner. They were sort of a vestigial part of Zora biology – they have more modern ways to catch food now – so he hadn't had a reason to.

“....beautiful….”

That tone, wistful and far off, is the one Link adopts when he does not realize he’s speaking. The same tone he’d said _I love you_ with. Sidon smiles into the warm skin of his abdomen. Oh how all-consumingly charming can one Hylian be? What does it mean to be the target of his intent action as well as these accidental utterances? Sidon is dizzy with love, and he kisses the peach expanse of skin pressed against his face, kisses just above that hole on the Hylian’s stomach.

He’s gifted with a surprised gasp and stuttering fingers on top of his head. But Link returns to his exploration seconds later. 

Sidon closes his eyes, a warm naked body wrapped around his head, and strong fingers rubbing at his mantle. After days without it, after everything they’d just done, he’s hopeless to fight it as sleep takes him over.

\---

When Link finally pulls himself down from the softly glowing spots, Sidon is asleep. Lying on top of his wide white body, Link watches as the spots slowly go dim. 

He traces lines down his jaw, looking at the greying skin under his closed eyes. They’re both still naked, and as naturally warm as Sidon is, the floor is cold. Link reaches out and pulls the nearest clean blankets over them both. He tucks himself into a broad white chest, his heart humming while his body presses flat against the Zora under him.

Link falls asleep to the sound of gills breathing, and the sleepy press of claws against his back.

* * *

As promised, Link walks Sidon home the next day. They take the route around Lanayru, which makes the journey last a full five days. More than once Sidon picks him up and carries him into some body of water, kissing Link on the way in. More than once, Link lies the Zora down along a shoreline, kissing him quiet while water laps listless across clawed feet.

When the Domain comes into view, high palace walls striking into a blue sky, Link feels his heart sink. Still, it isn’t like last time. It hurts, but only with longing, and not with dread.

“Please accept my apologies, father.” To Link’s surprise, standing in the throne room in front of King Dorephan, Sidon takes his hand and says plainly, “I had to go back for him. He forgot something of the utmost importance.”

The King raises his heavy brow, peering down at Link. “Did he?”

The blond tries to pretend he’s not holding hands with the King’s son and occupies himself with staring at a light half-way up the wall next to the throne. He doesn't let go, though. 

“Very well,” Sidon’s father says after a long moment, the smallest smile on his giant face. “No harm done, my son.”

Sidon grins, bowing politely to his father, and then pulls Link out of the throne room. King Dorephan's gaze follows him out, burning at the back of his head. It’s not hostility – the King likes him, Link knows – it’s caution. It’s a father who’s lost too much.

Sidon walks with him down to the Ne'ez Yohma Shrine, still holding his hand. As Link steps up onto the platform and the Zora stays in the lower part, in the water, he gets a strong wave of dejavu.

The hand holding his own brings him back to the present.

“Be safe,” Sidon says, his yellow eyes already watering. “You know I believe in you, Link. But promise me you’ll take care of yourself.”

Leaving the slate on top of the pedestal, Link sets a hand on Sidon’s face. He lets his fingers run over familiar skin. Tries to lock the memory of it in his mind, because it’s all he’ll have for a long while. 

“I will,” he says. Link pulls the slate out and sets his destination – Hyrule Tower this time. 

“Say hello to the Princess for me. I hope we two should meet, someday.”

Link nods, rubbing a thumb across Sidon’s cheekbone. 

“Make certain to eat. Hyrule Lake had some of the finest bass I have ever seen.”

Still stroking his cheek, he nods again. 

“And be sure to–”

“Sidon.” Link smiles. Hadn't meant to cut him off – his name came out all on its own. Breathing in slowly, Link closes his eyes so he can get his mouth to work. “I’m… I’ll come back,” he says.

When he opens his eyes, it's to a row of sharp white teeth. “I will be waiting, my brave knight,” Sidon says. “I will be right here.”

Taking his place on the shrine, Link stands up straight, squaring his shoulders. He sets a hand over his heart and spreads his fingers. 

Sidon, still smiling, looks at him curiously. “I still do not know what that means.”

Link activates the shrine. With the seconds he has left, he leans back in and slides a hand along Sidon’s jaw. Kissing his large mouth fully, Link closes his eyes. He kisses him for as long as he can, smelling fresh rainwater, breathing out as Sidon kisses him back. Even as he starts to disappear, he’s pulled straight off the shrine, directly against a wide, white chest.

He fades away in blue light, but this time he can’t stop smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((there might be an epilogue for this if sidlink comes back to haunt me))
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would be very happy to know your thoughts : ) Constructive criticism is valued, but please be gentle I'm weak x')


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